BEAUMONT – Larry Johnson and Garwey Dual hit the two biggest three-point shots of the game, both coming with under 2:30 to play and within 1:23 of each other as McNeese held on to beat Lamar 64-63 in front of 5,714 fans here Saturday night.
 
The win improves McNeese's record to 18-4 overall and 11-2 in Southland Conference play and sets up a showdown at Stephen F. Austin on Monday night in a battle for first place. Lamar dropped to 11-11 on the season and 6-7 in league play.
 
The win marked the fourth straight win for the Cowboys and eighth straight over Lamar in the series, and for the third straight year, a win by two points or less to win the Battle of the Border.
 
The Cowboys led 54-53 late in the game when Johnson, who finished with a game-high 22 points, connected on a three-pointer to put McNeese on top by two possessions at 57-53.  Lamar answered with a jumper by King-Njhsanni Wilhite to cut the lead to 57-55 with 1:41 on the clock and after Lamar's Braden East missed the front end of a one-and-one with 1:14 left, Dual knocked down a three with 54.2 seconds on the clock to put McNeese up 60-55.
 
From there, it was a free throw game as DJ Richard Jr. and Dual each hit their one-and-one attempts and led 64-61 following Dual's free throws with seven seconds to play, but instead of going for the tie, Lamar's Lee Jr. drove the lane and laid one in to cut the deficit to 64-63. Jacolb Fredson-Cole was fouled on the inbound pass with 1.5 seconds to play and missed the front end of his one-and-one, however an 80 foot heave by the Cardinals at final the buzzer was well off the mark.
 
Colbert finished with his first career double-double behind 10 points and a career-high 12 rebounds, six of those from the offensive glass. Rob Lee Jr. led Lamar with 25 points while East added 13.
 
Neither team burned up the nets, McNeese shooting 37 percent (20 of 54) while Lamar made 37.7 percent (23 of 61). Lamar made eight 3s to McNeese's seven and out-rebounded the Cowboys 43-33 including 20 from the offensive glass. But McNeese was nearly perfect at the free throw line, hitting 17 of 19 while Lamar made 9 of 12.
 
McNeese led 31-23 at the half after Garcia banked in a 55-foot heave at the buzzer. The Cowboys scored the first six points of the game on back-to-back three-pointers from Johnson and Archie but the Cardinals kept things close by hitting five threes in the half along with 11 offensive rebounds to keep possessions alive.
 
The Cowboys were able to keep the Cardinals out of the paint in the first half, holding Lamar to just two points inside and forcing them to shoot the three where they connected on 5 of 15 in the half.
 
Lamar came out strong in the second half, hitting 4 of its first 7 shots including two from behind the arc and pulled to within 35.34 at the 15:51 mark. After that, McNeese held Lamar to just one made 3 the rest of the game.