Christian Shumate’s final play on his career night has the Cowboys streaking down the stretch.

Shumate’s two-handed dunk with 5.4 seconds left in overtime lifted McNeese State to a 78-76 overtime victory over Incarnate Word Thursday night.

Shumate, a sophomore, finished with a career-high 32 points and started the winning fast break by grabbing a rebound, his 11th, on the defense end.

He then raced down the court and took a perfect feed from Johnathan Massie to beat the Cardinals defense.

Because of that, the Cowboys (8-19, 5-9 SLC) have their first three-game winning streak and took another step toward making the Southland Conference’s postseason tournament.

The Cowboys are in a four-way tie for sixth place, one game ahead of 10th-place New Orleans.

Eight teams make the tournament which will be played in Lake Charles the first week of March.

UIW (11-16, 5-9) fell into the tie with the Cowboys. Lamar and Houston Christian are also 5-9.

Zach Scott had a chance to win the game in regulation but his 3-pointer at the buzzer came up short.

Scott’s shot came after Trey Miller hit a pair of free throws with 21.8 left for UIW to tie the score at 69. McNeese had taken the lead 26 seconds earlier on Scott’s runner.

In a closely tested first half, Shumate helped keep the Cowboys in the game when he scored eight points during a 12-0 run late.