LAFAYETTE – After spending the first 10 games looking for somebody to take over contests late, the Cowboys finally found someone Sunday in the most hostile of territories.

Sincere Parker simply took things over when needed as McNeese State avoided an upset in the Cajundome.

Parker scored 20 of his game-high 22 points in the final 15:19 to lead the Cowboys over Louisiana-Lafayette 64-56 in the 100th meeting between the neighborhood programs.

“The ball was in my hands, and I had to make the plays,” said Parker. “My teammates put their trust in me.”

Parker finished making 9 of 16 shots from the floor, recovering from a first half that saw him take just one in nine minutes of play. Parker drove to the basket and forced the action when he checked into the game in the second half.

“Just tried to make something happen,” said Parker. “It was a physical game. They played very hard.”

The Cajuns (3-10) were playing for the first time under interim head coach Derrick Zimmerman, who replaced Bob Marlin, who was fired Thursday after 15 years leading the program.

“Nobody even thought we would be within eight points of this McNeese team,” said Zimmerman. “So I take that; I get back to the drawing board and create some things so we can get ready for some kind of run.”

Parker scored nine points in the final 5:29 as McNeese outscored the Cajuns 12-3 in a change of what had been happening. The Cowboys (6-5) had been faltering down the stretch of close games. 

“We finally executed in the final six minutes,” said McNeese head coach Will Wade. “Our defense was swarming at that point. We really executed down the stretch.”

The win was the Cowboys’ first in Lafayette since 2007 and their second straight over the Cajuns since the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons. The 2,047 fans in attendance were evenly split between blue and red.

“It was a great win for us. Our crowd was great,” said Wade. “We had some big-time hustle plays when we needed them.”

Quadir Copeland finished with 12 points for the Cowboys, all in the first half, while Christian Shumate added 10 and six rebounds. Joe Charles, the transfer from ULL, had ended with six points and eight rebounds in his Cajundome return.

Parker and Copeland scored 34 of McNeese’s 36 bench points.

“That is what (Parker) can do,” said Wade. “He can get buckets, and Q did a big job in the first half keeping us in it.”

The Cowboys didn’t take the lead for good until Paker hit a jumper with 2:26 remaining to make it 57-55. McNeese went on to make all five of its free throws from there, while the Cajuns managed just one point. 

McNeese survived a game with 18 lead changes despite making just 1 of 16 3-point shots. The Cowboys did hit 13 of 17 free throws, while the Cajuns were just 4 of 6 from the line.

“When you aren’t making 3-point shots, you have to make up points in other places,” said Wade. “We did that.”

McNeese led 28-27 at that half thanks in large part to Copeland, who made six of his 10 first-half shots.

Mostapha El Moutaouakkil led the Cajuns with 14 points and eight rebounds, while Kentrell Garnett added 13. 

Wade improved to 3-0 lifetime against ULL, the last two with McNeese. His LSU team beat the Cajuns in an NIT game in 2018.

The game ended the series between the two schools, though both sides said they would like to continue it. No more games are scheduled for now.

McNeese will return to action Saturday when they open defense of their Southland Conference championship at home against New Orleans. Tipoff in the Legacy Center is set for 4 p.m.