Nobody said it was going to be easy.

The Cowboys learned just how hard the road to a Southland Conference might be in their league opener Saturday in Commerce, Texas.

Struggling to find any rhythm most of the game, McNeese State stumbled early but recovered in time to pull off a 73-67 win over Texas A&M-Commerce.

It was the seventh straight victory for the Cowboys, who improved to 12-2 overall. The win was also the 200th in the career of head coach Will Wade.

“We got to be better,” said McNeese guard Shahada Wells. “That wasn’t our best.”

Wells was more than good enough. Coming off his Southland Player of the Week honors, he finished with 25 points and 10 rebounds to once again lead the Pokes.

Wells scored 20 of his points in the second half, hitting on 4 of 5 three-point shots after the break. That helped McNeese rally from a 12-point deficit as he led a 15-0 run.

“I had to be more aggressive,” said Wells. “I don’t think I was aggressive enough in the first half.”

McNeese won this game in the final two minutes, as they outscored the Lions 10-3 during that stretch. Christian Shumate gave the Pokes the lead for good when he followed a Wells miss with a rebound dunk for a 65-64 lead with 1:59 to play.

Antavion Collum then hit his biggest shot of the game, a three with 1:14 left, which put the Pokes up 68-64. McNeese hit 5 of 6 free throws from there to seal the win.

“That was a huge hit,” said Wade. “We needed that. We made the plays we needed to make to win, but not enough.”

Collum ended with 20 points, 15 in the first half when he helped keep McNeese in the game. Collum and Wells were the only two Cowboys to finish in double figures. 

Jerome Brewer led all scorers with 32 points for Commerce while Tommie Lewis added 12. Brewer’s three and a Lewis steal and dunk gave the Lions their biggest lead of the game, 44-32, with 18:27 to play. 

“Brewer was phenomenal,” Wade said. “They were more physical than us. They probably deserved to win.”

Wade called a timeout and his team responded behind 11 Wells points during the key 15-0 run that put the Pokes up 49-46 with 12:11 to go.

“Just had to pick up our defense,” said Wells. “Winning on the road like this will give us a different kind of boost.

McNeese survived a terrible start that saw the Cowboys go seven minutes without a point during an early stretch. That left them down 21-11 before Collum scored eight straight points to put them back into the game at 23-22 5:59 before the break.

Behind Brewer, the Lions came right back and scored eight on the final nine points of the half to lead 36-28 heading back to the locker room.

For the game McNeese shot 42 free throws, connecting on 31 as Commerce was whistled for 28 fouls. The Cowboys committed 17 themselves and turned the ball over 12 times.

“We won, but we didn’t play to our standards,” said Wade. “We were not very good today, but we were very, very fortunate. That’s life on the road in conference.

“We are going to have a heck of a practice tomorrow.”.

It was the type of Saturday game in the Southland McNeese can expected the rest of the way, mucked up, physical, and with a lot of whistles. 

The Cowboys will look to go 2-0 on this road trip when they play at Northwestern State on Monday night. Tipoff for that game is set for 6:30 p.m.

They will return home next Saturday when the Pokes play host to preseason league favorite Southeastern in the Legacy Center.