Cowboys’ season ends, UNO pulls away in closing minutes See

Published 9:22 am Friday, March 11, 2022

One step forward and then another trip back … home.

After finally winning a postseason game for the first time since 2015, the Cowboys’ season came to an end Thursday night.

New Orleans rallied to knock McNeese State out of the Southland Conference Tournament with a 82-78 win at the Merrell Center in Katy, Texas.

John Aiken’s first season as the Cowboys’ head coach came to an end with an 11-22 record. The third-seeded Privateers moved on to play No. 2 seed Southeastern Louisiana tonight in the semifinals. McNeese heads into the offseason after a game effort.

McNeese took its biggest lead of the game, 66-59, with 8:32 remaining on Zack Scott’s layup which came seconds after a monster dunk by Christian Shumate. But that’s when it all went bad.

After the Cowboys went up 70-66 on Kellon Taylor’s jumper with 6:44 left, UNO went on an 11-0 run as McNeese went more than 5 minutes without a point. Scott broke the run with a pair of free throws with 1:34 left.

But UNO was able to seal the game down the stretch.

Scott and Trae English led McNeese with 19 points each. Troy Green had 21 for UNO.

Johnathan Massie got the Cowboys off to a fast start. The SLC Freshman of the Year scored nine quick points as McNeese jumped out to an 13-7 lead 5 minutes into the game.

But center Brendan Medley-Bacon picked up his second foul quickly after that. It is a problem that has plagued the Cowboys all season, limiting their inside game when he’s out.

Slowly the Privateers took control. Green led the way for UNO with 11 points in the half, but McNeese closed fast with the final four points to cut the lead to 40-38 at the break.

The Cowboys got to the second round by winning a tournament game for the first time since 2015 Wednesday. McNeese beat Northwestern State for the third time this season, getting a season-best 22 points from Taylor.