Things got physical, then they got chippy before the Cowboys restored order Saturday.

McNeese kept its cool and winning ways inside the Legacy Center in a game with several verbal altercations and flare-ups. 

Behind Jovahn Garcia’s 25 points, the Cowboys out-fought Nicholls 80-71 to extend their winning streak to six. 

The victory, along with Lamar’s 72-63 loss to Stephen F. Austin, leaves McNeese alone atop the Southland Conference standings at 5-0, 11-5 overall.

But not everyone was happy.

“Very disappointing,” McNeese head coach Will Wade called it. “I think they punked us most of the game. Just not good enough.”

The win was the 16th straight against Southland competition over the last two seasons and 24 of 25 total for the Cowboys. They have also won 24 of their last 25 on their home floor and 14 in a row against SLC teams on Joe Dumars Court.

None of those numbers matter to Wade.

“You can judge it by the scoreboard or you can judge it by your standards,” Wade said. ‘They were a lot tougher than us. They were more prepared than we were, they were better than we were.

“We escaped on our talent today.”

Garcia led the way, scoring 20 of his points in the second half. He made big shots and free throws at critical times to keep Nicholls at bay. 

Garcia finished just one point off his career-high, which he set just 12 days earlier. It was his third 20-plus performance in the last four games.

“Thank God we had him tonight,” said Wade. 

Garcia, at one point down the stretch, scored eight straight for the Cowboys, who never trailed the last 30 minutes.

“It was a physical game for sure,” said Garcia. “We found a way to pull it out but we got to be better.”

Quadir Copeland added 14 points, while T’John Brown finished with 10 for McNeese. Joe Charles ended with nine points and 12 rebounds, just missing his second double-double of the season.

“We didn’t come out like we have been,” said Charles. “Some moments we responded well, sometimes we didn’t.”

Wade kept talking about how much tougher the rest of the season will be for the Cowboys as he expects everybody else to test them physically.

“We played soft today,” said Wade. “No, I don’t think we are a soft team. We got some tough guys, but we played soft today. That’s on me.”

Rob Brown finished with 16 points to lead Nicholls, which fell to 9-7, 3-2. 

Both teams struggled from long range with their shooting as they combined to make just seven 3-pointers in 33 attempts. McNeese, which was coming off 16 last Monday against Northwestern State, managed to hit just 3 of 15.

After a slow start, the Cowboys did go on a 10-2 run to take a 28-23 lead with 3:58 left in the first half. They finished up 39-33 at intermission.

From there,e things got a little heated, with the first scuffle coming three minutes into the second half. McNeese’s DJ Richards and Nicholl’s Mekhi Collins were both given technical fouls during a pile-up, but no punches were thrown.

While never able to fully put the Colonels away, the Cowboys also never let them get closer than six points as they finished making 29 of 39 free throws, 17 of 24 in the second half.

Garcia led the way there by making 12 of his 13 from the line.

“We knew how big this game was,” said Garcia. “We have to handle everything better.”

The win was McNeese’s fifth straight over Nicholls and fourth in 12 months.

Charles said the team got the message from Wade.

“When he says something, he means it,” Charles said.

Monday night, the Cowboys will travel to Houston Christian for a game against the improved Huskies (6-10, 3-2); Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. HCU beat Incarnate Word 81-76 Saturday.