Stumbling to the finish line, the Cowboys crashed to a season low Saturday afternoon.

McNeese State lost its fourth consecutive game, this time to hapless Incarnate Word, which until Saturday hadn’t won on the road.

The last-place Cardinals were far from impressive, but managed to play well enough to knock off McNeese 69-67, which was even more unimpressive.

“It is a huge deal and we just didn’t play well in our gym for whatever reason,” said first-year McNeese head coach John Aiken, whose team lost five of its last six home games. “We never made people feel uncomfortable in our place.”

The Cowboys (10-20, 4-9 Southland Conference) have lost four in a row and eight of 10. The Cowboys find themselves in seventh place, one game out of last place.

The Cardinals (7-23, 3-10) made themselves at home, hitting 11 3-pointers, nine in the first half when they grabbed a 36-34 lead.

“We just didn’t have any real pop on defense in the first half,” Aiken said. “We did a better job in the second half.”

Down 67-64, McNeese had a chance to tie the score but Zack Scott missed a 3-pointer and Harwin Francois stepped out of bounds before he could get a potential-tying 3 off with 14.3 seconds left.

Drew Lutz hit two free throws before Scott hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to two with 1.8 seconds left. The Cardinals lost the ball on the inbounds but it rolled out of bounds as time expired.

“I just wish they would have reviewed it, that’s all,” Aiken said. “I thought that there was .6 seconds left. I wasn’t mad, I just would have liked a review.”

The Cowboys would like a rewind on the season, which has slipped away of late.

McNeese was 5 of 18 from behind the 3-point line, which has been a nasty trend. Over the last three games the Cowboys are 10 of 61 on 3-pointers, good for 16 percent.

“We are not shooting the ball very well at all,” Aiken said. “We have to find ways to make our shots in our gym.”

R.J. Glasper led all scorers with 20 points, making 4 of 9 on 3s. Lutz added 16.

McNeese was led by Scott’s 16 point and 14 from Kellon Taylor. Christian Shumate added 13.

“We have to regroup, come together and it the reset button,” Aiken said. “We have to find a way to win a game. Our season is not over but it hasn’t been what we wanted.”

McNeese will end the regular season at Houston Baptist next Saturday before entering the Southland tournament the following week.