LAKE CHARLES - McNeese exhibition game against LSU in front of a sellout Townsley Law Arena crowd of 4,424 felt like anything but an exhibition and more like a postseason tournament game with the Tigers escaping with a 63-60 win in the Bill vs. Will Showdown.
 
Larry Johnson led all scorers with 22 points while newcomer Dell Warren dished out eight assists to just one turnover in 35 minutes while making his McNeese debut.
 
Another newcomer, Christian Nitu, added nine points while Alier Maluk and Jaylon Dean-Vines, both making the Cowboys' debut, led the squad with six rebound each.
 
LSU had four players score in double-figures, led by an 18-point outing from Divine Ugochukwu and 16 from Mouhamed Dioubate. Michael Ruzic added a double-double with 11 points and 16 rebounds.
 
Although it was only an exhibition and doesn't count on record, McNeese second-year head coach Bill Armstrong didn't like losing a game in the Townsley Law Arena where the Cowboys went 15-0 last season and 48-1 over the last three years.
 
"I've never done this before and I never want to do it again," said Armstrong about dropping a game at home. "I'm going to make sure I'm going to work my tail off every single day to make sure this doesn't happen again."
 
Neither team led by more than six points throughout the game. McNeese's largest lead came midway through the first half at 19-13 after Nitu scored seven straight points for the Cowboys to rally from a 13-12 deficit to the 6-point lead in a span of three minutes. The electric sequence came in a 19-second span when Nitu finished off an alley-oop pass by Warren with a dunk then hit a three-pointer off a pass from Dean-Vines.
 
LSU answered with its own 7-0 run to go up 20-19 but Maluk responded with his first of two 3-pointers of the game to put the Cowboys back on top 22-20 with 7:49 to play in the half. Nitu struck again with an alley-oop dunk to make it 24-20. LSU came back with an 8-0 run to go up 28-24 at the 4:28 mark.
 
Johnson knocked down a 3 with 1:03 to play to give McNeese a 31-29 lead before Ruzic hit a hook shot with 37 seconds left as the team went into the locker room tied 31-31 at the break.
 
LSU attempted to pull away in the second half as the Cowboys went cold from the field, missing shots on four straight possessions and going three minutes without a score as the Tigers grabbed their largest lead at 53-47 after a Ugochukwu layup.
 
Warren quickly snapped the cold spell with a three-pointer to make it 53-50 at the 7:02 mark then Maluk tied it with his second 3 on the night to make it 53-53 with 5:36 to play.
 
Three free throws by Johnson later followed to put McNeese up 56-53 and on a 9-0 run but Ugochukwu tied the game 56-56 with a three with 2:40 to go.
 
Neither team would make another field goal until Johnson's dunk with 2.2 seconds to play as LSU outscored McNeese 7-2 at the free throw line in the final 2:40.
 
Overall, LSU shot 34 free throws, making 22, to McNeese 9-for-11 at the line. Both teams shot 35 percent from the field and McNeese made two more three-pointers than the Tigers.
 
LSU held a 41-40 advantage in rebounding.
 
McNeese will play two more exhibitions in the next two weeks, one on the road in a closed scrimmage then will be back home on Oct. 25 against Southern in an open exhibition. The Cowboys will begin the regular season on November 2 when the play UAB in the Field of 68 Opening Day Marathon in Rock Hill, South Carolina.