LAKE CHARLES – McNeese defended its home on Saturday, and in the process, took its seat at the throne for the second straight season.
 
The Cowboys wrapped up at least a share of the Southland Conference regular season championship following a 73-57 win over A&M-Corpus Christi while head coach Will Wade collected his 240^th career win. McNeese will go for the outright title and No. 1 tournament seed on Monday when it hosts UTRGV.
 
McNeese, 22-6 and 16-1 in conference play, maintains a three-game lead over Lamar in the conference standings with three games remaining. AMCC fell to 17-12 and 10-7 in the league and is in fifth place in the standings, one game behind Nicholls for fourth place.
 
Four players scored in double-figures for the Cowboys led by Joe Charles with 17 points, 16 in the second half before 4 for 5 shooting from three-point range. Quadir Copeland added 13 while DJ Richards Jr. and Sincere Parker each added 10. Garry Clark led the Islanders (17-12, 10-7) with 17 points.
 
The win gave McNeese back-to-back regular season titles for the first time since the 2001 and 2002 seasons, and for only the second time in school history in the Southland Conference.
 
It was the sixth overall win and 10^th-straight win at home and McNeese is now 52-10 over the last two seasons and 33-2 in conference play in that same time.
 
On Saturday, the Cowboys built a 26-16 first half lead after a 15-7 run that was sparked by eight straight points scored by Parker, four of those on back-to-back break-away dunks, over a 7-minute span midway through the half.
 
The Islanders battled back to tie the game 30-30 before Christian Shumate threw down one of his four Shu Slams with 58 seconds to play to give the Cowboys a 32-30 lead at the half.
 
AMCC opened the second half on a 7-2 run to take a 37-34 lead with 18:11 on the clock following a Clark 3-pointer.
 
McNeese answered with a 15-2 run over the next 5:54 to build its second double-digit lead of the game at 49-39. That run saw Charle sink two 3-pointers and Copeland a couple of layups.
 
The lead hovered between 8-12 points for the next three minutes but began to widen after another Shumate monster slam and an emphatic dunk by Bryant Selebangue with 2:46 to play increased the lead to 17 points at 67-50.
 
McNeese dominated the glass, holding a 43-26 advantage in rebounds. Included in that 43 were 20 offensive board, the second-most on the year, and held the Islanders to 10 including one in the second half. McNeese scored 20 second chance points to AMCC's 8.
 
The Cowboys hit 48 percent from the field, sinking 28 of 59, and were 6 of 14 for 43 percent from long range. McNeese made 11 of 17 at the free throw line for 65 percent.
 
The Islanders made 44 percent from the field (22-50), 4 of 16 from 3-point range for 25 percent, and 9 of 15 at the free throw line for 60 percent.
 
Postgame Notebook:
• McNeese is now 12-1 in the Legacy Center this season and 30-1 over the last two years.
• The Cowboys are 19-1 on the season when leading at the half.
• 12 of the 16 conference wins have been by 10 points or more.
• Richards Jr. scored 10 points in the game, moving him to 995 in his career. He'll look to hit that milestone mark of 1,000 on Monday night.
• With three rebounds, Joe Charles now has 690 in his career, 10 shy of the 700 milestone.
• After a 2-for-5 night behind the arc, Richards Jr. now has made 153 threes in his career and has connected on 20 of 37 over the last five games.
• Charles scored 17 points for the second straight game.
• Will Wade picked up his 240^th career win and 44^th at McNeese.