LAKE CHARLES – McNeese broke a 44-44 tie with 12:03 to play with a 20-2 run and the Cowboys polished off redemption game number one with an 81-64 win over UIW in front of 3,554 fans in the Townsley Law Arena on Saturday.
 
The win improved McNeese's record to 19-5 overall and 12-3 in Southland Conference play. UIW, who defeated the Cowboys back on December 1 in the league opener, fell to 10-14 and 5-10. It marked the 24^th-consecutive home win and the 31^st straight against Southland Conference competition.
 
Jerrell Colbert continued his hot streak after coming off back-to-back double-double games. He added a career-high 17 points behind 7 of 9 shooting with five of those makes coming on dunks and three of those off alley-oop passes. He added three rebounds, two assists, one steal and three blocked shots and scored 13 of his points in the second half.
 
Larry Johnson and Tyshawn Archie each scored 17 points while DJ Richards Jr. added 13 behind 3 of 6 shooting from long range.
 
Defensively, the Cowboys returned to form, forcing the Cardinals into 23 turnovers while outscoring them 36-0 in points off turnovers. And despite getting out-rebounded by a 36-23 margin, McNeese pulled in eight offensive boards out of its 22 missed shots on the night.
 
League scoring leader Davion Bailey, who sank seven three-pointers against the Cowboys in the first meeting and scored 29 points, was held to 12 points, one game after scoring 36 earlier in the week.
 
McNeese led for most of the game and trailed only one, that coming after the Cardinals scored the game's first bucket less than a minute into the contest.
 
The Cowboys led 16-15 following a Bailey 3 with 8:44 to play in the first half then rolled off a 10-0 run that was started by a Johnson three-pointer and ended with an Archie three as the lead built to 26-15 with 5:51 to play in the half.
 
UIW scored the final six points of the half to send the game into the break tied 30-30.
 
In the second half, McNeese scored just 14 points in the first eight minutes as the teams threw up five tied marks in that span and was knotted up 44-44 with 12:03 to play.
 
From that time on, the Cowboys scored 37 points in the final 12 minutes, making 12 of 15 from the field during that time including going 5 for 5 in the final 4:32.
 
McNeese shot 55 percent for the game (27-49) and 41 percent from three-point range (7-17) while UIW made 19 of 44 for 43 percent and was 10 of 22 for 46 percent from behind the arc.
 
The Cowboys will be back in action at home on Monday night when they host HCU at 6:30.
 
Notebook:
• In addition to its 24^th consecutive home win and 31^st straight win over Southland Conference competition (regular season and tournament), the win marked the Cowboys' 27^th-straight regular season conference win which is ranked third all-time in league history.
• 44-1 at home the last three seasons (only loss coming against Santa Clara last year).
• Improved to 38-0 over the last three years when scoring 80 or more, 10-0 this season.
• With his 17 points, Larry Johnson became just the fifth freshman in school history to reach the 400-points scored milestone, now with 409 which moves him into fourth in the school record book among freshmen behind Joe Dumars (527), Henry Ray (492) and Edmond Lawrence (433).
• Javohn Garcia recorded four steals on the night, increasing his McNeese career total to 144 and into 9^th all-time in school history.
• With his three 3-pointers made on the night, DJ Richards Jr. has now made 212 in his career, ranking 6^th all-time in school history and 17 away from moving into fifth.
• Larry Johnson scored double-figures in his 21^st game of the season and 8^th straight.