For part one of this year’s rivalry, the border is secure.

The Cowboys knocked off Lamar for the fourth time in 12 months Saturday, playing through a flop and injury in the process.

In front of a season-high crowd of 4,081 inside the Legacy Center, McNeese State ran its win streak to eight with a 75-64 victory that leaves them alone in first place in the Southland Conference.

“I thought it was a tale of two halves,” said McNeese head coach Will Wade. “I thought the first half we played really well. Second half they were more aggressive than we were.”

McNeese had to overcome the loss of forward Joe Charles, who exited with an ankle injury 21 seconds into the second half. He would return but could not go all out and left at the next break.

“We are going to have to watch him closely,” said Wade. “Knowing Joe, he is going to want to play Monday. We have to be smart about that.”

The Cowboys host Stephen F. Austin (8-10, 1-6) at 3 p.m. Monday. The game was initially scheduled for 6 p.m. but moved up three hours due to impending weather predictions.

With Charles down, Christian Shumate and Brandon Murray picked up the slack. 

Shumate scored all 10 of his points after Charles went out.

“Once Joe went down, I figured out how to attack them,” said Shumate. “I had an advantage and took advantage of it.”

Murray was even better. Playing his most minutes since suffering a knee injury against Louisiana-Lafayette, Murray scored a season-high 14 points in just under 30 minutes, hitting 5 of 8 shots from the field and all four of his free throws.

“Great to be back out there with the team,” said Murray. “I feel great. When coach wants to play me, I am ready to play as hard as I can.”

Guard DJ Richards led the Cowboys with 19 points, hitting 5 of 9 3-pointers. Quadir Copeland also added 10. 

Lamar’s Alexis Marmolejos led all scorers with 20 points.

By capturing this edition of the Battle of the Border, the Cowboys improved to 13-5 overall and 7-0, a game ahead of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The win was also McNeese’s nation’s best 18th straight over conference competition.

The Cowboys have won 26 of their last 27 home games inside the Legacy Center and are 26-1 under Wade in SLC play. They have also won six of the last seven meetings with Lamar (9-9, 4-3).

Richards got McNeese going early, scoring six points in the first six minutes as the Cowboys grabbed an 11-6 lead. 

“DJ got us going,” said Wade. “Whenever his first shots go in, he is good to go.”

His final three of the half made it 35-22 with 1:56 left. Lamar would hit a couple of free throws to make it 35-34 at the break.

“That was a really good first half for us,” said Wade. “It was one of our better halves in a long time.”

Things got tight in the second half, as the Cardinals received a huge call at the 10-minute mark. McNeese’s T’Johnn Brown was whistled for a foul for making contact with Marmolejos’s face. 

Officials took a long look at the replay and ruled it a common foul. McNeese fans and Wade erupted as the video replay on the big screen about the court showed Brown miss Marmolejos, who fell to the ground anyway on what could have been ruled a flop.

“I did not get a good angle on that,” Wade claimed after the game. “I’ll have to check the tape.”

The play fueled a quick Lamar run that cut the lead to 56-51 before Shumate scored five quick points. Murray then put the finishing touches on the victory with a thunderous dunk with 1:18 remaining, giving the Cowboys a 73-62 lead.

“We are going to get everybody’s best every time out,” said Shumate. “We understand our standard.”

That is keeping the win streak going and controlling the border battle with Lamar.