Welcome to the Madhouse on McNeese Street.

Fueled by a ruckus sellout crowd, the Cowboys started fast and never trailed Tuesday night inside the Legacy Center.

Top-seeded McNeese State held serve and advanced to the Southland Conference title game for the first time since 2012 by knocking off rival Lamar.

The Cowboys, who just three weeks earlier needed a last-second shot to beat the Cardinals in Beaumont, didn’t need any such drama with a 76-57 victory over the No. 4 Cardinals.

McNeese will play No. 3 Nicholls (20-13), which beat No. 2 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 81-73 in the second semifinal. With an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on the line, tip-off is set at 4 p.m. 

With the victory, McNeese improved to 29-3, a program record on the Division I level. Lamar finished the season 19-14. The Cowboys will be looking for their first trip to the Big Dance since 2002 and only third ever in program history.

“I have said before, if we win it this would be the most accomplishment of my career, and I have been a part of a Final Four team,” said McNeese head coach Will Wade. “I want it for our school, our community, and our players.”

Newly minted SLC Player of the Year Shahada Wells led the way for McNeese with a game-high 27 points, 15 coming in the second half. Wells was 9 of 19 from the floor and 8 of 9 from the free-throw line.

Wells also had five assists to just one turnover.

“We got one more to go,” said Wells. “I was just trying to be aggressive and take what the defense gave me.”

Javohn Garcia had 12 points while Christian Shumate added 11 and seven rebounds before fouling you with just under four minutes remaining. Terry Anderson led the Cardinals with 16 points before he also fouled out.

“It was a very physical game and we didn’t respond too well to that,” said Lamar head coach Alvin Brooks. 

McNeese pounded the Cardinals on the inside, outscoring them 48-12 in the paint.

“Our big guys set the tone in the first half,” said Wade. “We bludgeoned them in the paint.”

For Wade, it was the end of a two-year wild ride on March 12. In 2022 he was fired on this day by LSU, last year he landed in Lake Charles to start his new job. And this year he is taking McNeese back to the SLC title game.

“Two out of three isn’t bad so I guess it’s a pretty good day,” said Shumate.

Behind Shumate, McNeese started fast as the forward scored the first two baskets of the game on dunks. The first ShuSlam came off a lob pass from Omar Cooper.

The next was a follow-up dunk from an Antavion Collum miss just 90 seconds into the contest. 

He had six points and six rebounds after the first nine minutes to help give the Cowboys an early 18-9 advantage.

That lead would grow to 25-9 behind a 9-0 Cowboy run. Je’Sean Jackson’s jumper with 7:31 left in the opening half finally broke the spurt.

The Cardinals got hot behind Jackson, hitting four straight three-point shots, but the Cowboys managed to finish with a 39-24 lead at the break.

Lamar made one big run in the second half, cutting the lead to 56-45 with 9:25 remaining. However, DJ Richards hit a huge three and Wells followed with a layup stretching the margin out to 16 with eight minutes left. 

“That was a big shot by DJ,” said Wade. “That gave us back the momentum we had lost.”

From there it was just a countdown to Wednesday.