Madness has taken over on McNeese Street.

Running on fumes, down to seven players, expected to go nowhere, the Cowboys are somehow two wins from dancing.

The team everybody counted out is now counting down wins.

McNeese State punched its ticket to the Southland Conference Tournament semifinals for the first time since 2012. In doing so the Cowboys have become the first eight seed to make it that far.

“The most dangerous is a man when he has nothing to lose,” said Cowboys forward Christian Shumate. “Our backs are against the wall. We can only come out fighting.”

McNeese toppled fourth-seeded Nicholls State 77-71 in a hard-fought battle that saw the Cowboys (11-22) win it down the stretch for a second consecutive night. With two more victories they would shockingly earn a berth to the NCAA Tournament.

“A gritty, tough win,” said Cowboys head coach John Aiken. “That’s what this team is about.”

Zach Scott scored the game’s last five points to seal the victory. Scott finished with 22 points and five steals.

His big play may have been his last theft, when he stole the ball on an inbounds pass with McNeese up 75-71 with 17.5 seconds left. He made his final two free throws to finish the night’s scoring right after.

“I just saw the ball floating there and went after it,” Scott said. “No one in the world thought we would be here.”

Where the Cowboys are is playing top-seeded Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (21-10) at 5:30 p.m. today.

“Our group is believing and playing for something bigger than themselves,” Aiken said. “We have taken unbelievable ownership of this moment.”

Scott’s clutch finish came after a huge three-point play by Harwin Francois, who rebounded a missed shot and made the follow while being fouled. When he hit the free throw with 1:10 left McNeese had the lead for good at 72-70.

Shumate was once again the best player on the floor, finishing with his 15th double-double of the season and ninth in the last 11 games.

Shumate had 22 points and 14 rebounds.

“I think he’s the best player in the conference,” Aiken said of Shumate.

Freshman Donovan Oday, the hero of Sunday night’s win, had 12 points while Francois added 11.

Latrell Jones led all scorers with 25 points for Nicholls, which saw its season come to an end at 16-15.

McNeese is 0-2 this season against Corpus Christi, which doesn’t seem to be a big deal now. The Cowboys were 0-2 against both of their previous opponents in the tourney.

“We are playing with house money,” Aiken said.

And cashing in.