LAKE CHARLES – A Townsley Law Arena record crowd of 4,333 nearly witnessed a record blowout margin of victory on Friday night as McNeese displayed total domination over Louisiana-Lafayette, 88-62.
 
The win improved McNeese's record to 3-1 on the season while capturing its third-straight win over ULL while posting the second-largest victory, second only to a 42-point, 88-46 win over the Cajuns in January of 1957. The previous record crowd occurred with 4,324 fans witnessed a Will Wade-coached Cowboys' team beat A&M-Corpus Christi in February of 2024.
 
McNeese, which is 3-0 in Townsley Law Arena this season, has won 16-straight home games and is 36-1 in its last 37 games at home.
 
Adding to the record-breaking night, freshman phenom Larry Johnson continued his record season going, scoring a game-high 24 points as he becomes the first freshman in school history to score 20 or more points in three of his first four collegiate games.
 
Johnson added an 8-for-8 night at the free throw line to improve to 29-for-29 on the season, ranking No. 1 in the NCAA while his 97 total points on the season also tops the NCAA following Friday night's games.
 
The Cowboys' defense was elite on Friday night. McNeese forced ULL (1-3) into 17 turnovers for the game while the Cajuns made just 18 total field goals (18 of 54 for 33 percent). The Cowboys scored 25 points off the turnovers including 12 points off 10 first half turnovers where McNeese forced ULL into 4 of 22 shooting for 18 percent on its way to a 37-16 halftime lead.
 
McNeese never trailed and only twice was the game tied. The final time at 6-6 with 15:23 to play in the first half. Following that, McNeese strung together nine straight points, started by Johnson's first 3 of the season.
 
The Cowboys led 27-16 with 3:01 to play in the half when Johnson sank his second and final 3 of the game to ignite a 10-0 run to end the half as ULL did not make a field goal in the final 4:07 to play. An alley-oop reverse dunk by Johnson on a pass by Garwey Dual ended the first half.
 
That drought carried through the first 4:40 of the second half, 8:47 total, as McNeese built a 45-17 lead following the second of Johnson's highlight reel alley-oop dunks, aka Johnson Jams, on the night off another nice pass by Dual who finished with seven assists.
 
The lead hit its largest point after DJ Richards Jr. sank two free throws to make it 78-42 with 4:30 remaining. ULL knocked down a couple of late three-pointers to cut into the deficit.
 
McNeese sank 53 percent (24-45) for the game and was nearly unstoppable in the second half, hitting 13 of 20 for 65 percent. The Cowboys drained 10 of 21 from three-point range, led by Tyshawn Archie's 3-for-6 showing. Archie scored 14 points as the only other Cowboy to score in double-figures but all 11 of the Pokes who saw action scored with four others scoring seven or more points.
 
Jacolb Fredson-Cole and Richards added eight points each. Javohn Garcia and Dual each scored seven.
 
The Cowboys connected on 30 of 39 at the free throw line for 77 percent and dished out 19 assists on 24 made shots. McNeese continues to be one of the top teams in the nation in bench scoring, netting 46 on the night.
 
McNeese will next be in action on Sunday, November 23, when hit takes on George Washington on the first day of the Cayman Islands Classic.