THIBODAUX – Larry Johnson scored 25 points and broke Joe Dumars' freshman scoring record for most points in a season and McNeese closed out the regular-season with a 75-65 Southland Conference win over Nicholls.
 
The win was the eighth straight for the Cowboys as they improved to 26-5 overall and 19-3 in league play. The 26 wins are the second-most in a regular season in school history (28 in 2023-24) as a Division I school while the 19 conference wins ties a school record which last year's team set.
 
McNeese will begin Southland Conference play next Tuesday, March 10, as the No. 2 seed and will tip-off at 8:30 p.m. Nicholls fell to 13-18 and 12-10 in the conference and will be the No. 6 seed taking on No. 7 Northwestern State on Sunday night at 7:30.
 
The Cowboys jumped out to a fast start and led 11-5 four minutes into the game after DJ Richards scored seven of his 10 points in consecutive possessions and in a 24 second span with two three-points and a plus one on the second.
 
Nicholls took a 16-14 lead with 12:09 to play in the half following a Zee Hamoda layup that helped the Colonels to a 6-0 run.
 
The Cowboys led 26-25 with 5:44 to play in the first when they went on a 12-0 run over the next 3:32 to build a 38-25 lead. Richards Jr. added his third triple of the half while Tyshawn Archie scored nine points in the run on his way to 18 on the night.
 
McNeese led 40-31 at the half and grew the lead to 50-36 early in the second half following a Yanis Ndjonga layup with 14:42 to play.
 
Nicholls fired back by making its next seven shots, four of those from three-point range, to pull to within 57-55 with 8:42 remaining.
 
Johnson took over for the Cowboys, scoring the next eight points for McNeese then made three late free throws to give the Cowboys a 68-59 lead with 1:48 to play.
 
A breakaway dunk by Garwey Dual then a fastbreak layup from Archie that followed with less than a minute to play sealed the win.
 
Trae English led the Colonels with 20 points.