LAKE CHARLES – The common denominator of a back-to-back Southland Conference basketball championship = the McNeese Cowboys.
 
McNeese achieved part of that after Saturday's win over A&M-Corpus Christi to clinch a share of the regular season title. Now the Bayou Bandits will go for the entire enchilada on Monday night – the outright championship and overall No. 1 seed in the postseason tournament when it hosts league newcomer UTRGV in the final home game of the regular season.
 
Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Legacy Center, a home court advantage that has seen the Cowboys post a 20-0 record in against league competition under head coach Will Wade (18-0 in conference games and 2-0 in postseason tournament). Overall, McNeese is 30-1 at home under Wade.
 
Prior to the game, McNeese will recognize its senior class that includes three managers and nine players – Lamont Evans IV, Omar Cooper, Alyn Breed, Bryant Selebangue, Sincere Parker, Brandon Murray, Joe Charles, Javohn Garcia, Christian Shumate, and managers Landry Donham, Amir Khan and Mitchell Eder.
 
Adding to the proof of a home court advantage, McNeese averages a league-high 3,346 fans per game, nearly 2,000 more than the second-highest attendance in the conference. The 75 percent capacity rate per game is ranked 50^th in all of Division I basketball and fourth-highest among all mid-major conference teams.
 
McNeese is coming off a 73-57 win over A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday to complete the regular-season sweep on the Islanders.
 
Charles led four Cowboy players in double-figures with 16 points while Quadir Copeland added 13 and DJ Richards Jr. and Sincere Parker each scored 10. Richards Jr. is five points away from scoring 1,000 in his career as he'll look to get that milestone on Monday night.
 
Head coach Will Wade picked up his 240^th career win while the Cowboys are now 52-10 under his leadership.
 
The Vaqueros dropped a 93-84 contest at Nicholls on Saturday, suffering their second straight loss and fifth out of the last six games. UTRGV is 14-14 overall, 6-11 in conference play and one game out of the eighth and final spot for the tournament behind UIW and Stephen F. Austin.
 
McNeese defeated UTRGV, 93-63, back on Jan. 25 in Edinburg behind a 21-point outing from Copeland and double-double games by Shumate (12 points, 10 rebounds) and Charles (11 points, 10 rebounds). The Cowboys connected on 12 three-pointers in the game, four from Richards Jr.
 
Following Monday's game, the Cowboys will close out the regular season at Lamar next Saturday followed by a visit to SFA on Monday, March 3, in a nationally televised game on ESPNU.