SALT LAKE CITY – Not all fairy tales end happily ever after. 

Some close with nothing more than an old-fashioned tail-kicking.

The Cowboys found that out here Thursday night, as their magical, record-setting season came crashing to a close.

There would be no upset, no Cinderella story, and no second game in the NCAA Tournament for McNeese State. The Cowboys are simply one-and-done.

McNeese State was tossed out of the Midwest Regional by tourney power Gonzaga, and it wasn’t even close.

Behind a blistering first half, fifth-seeded Gonzaga never gave No. 12 McNeese a chance, thumping them inside the Delta Center 86-65. That’s the most points the Cowboys have allowed all season.

“We ran into a buzzsaw,” said McNeese head coach Will Wade. “Gonzaga looked like a team that has been to the second week of the tournament eight straight times and we looked like a team that hadn’t been here in 22 years.”

Both facts were correct. 

McNeese was making just its third appearance in the tournament (0-3) while the Zags were in their 26th overall and 25th in a row. They have now won their opening game 15 straight years.

“Tonight our lack of tournament experience showed,” said Wade. “I’m not going to let one bad night ruin a lot of good ones.”

Using a 12-0 and 16-2 runs, the Zags (26-7) had all but punched their ticket to Saturday’s second round by halftime. The Cowboys’ season ends at 30-4, still tied for the best turnaround in NCAA history.

“We were dialed in,” said Gonzaga head coach Mark Few. “McNeese had our full attention and respect. Our guys got the message.”

The Zags shot 51.7 percent from the floor while McNeese hit just 33.3%. 

“They were ready for what we had,” said McNeese guard Shahada Wells. “Sad to see it come to an end tonight.”

McNeese had a couple of bright spots, as forward Christian Shumate finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds, including five dunks. It was the 34th double-double of his career and 13th of the season.

Wells finished his big year as a Cowboy with 19 points as well but was just 6 of 25 from the floor and only 1 of 8 from long range.

The Bulldogs were led by Anton Watson, who had 13 points, 13 rebounds, and 9 assists, just missing his first career triple-double.

“We came out prepared and confident,” said Watson. “They are a dangerous team so we were dialed into them the whole week.

The Zags shot 58.6 percent from the floor in the first half, including 8 of 11 (72.7%) on three-point shots. Meanwhile, the Cowboys were just 1 of 10 on threes and only 9 of 33 (27.3%) overall.

The result was a whopping 48-25 halftime lead for Gonzaga. The Zags came out firing, hitting 6 of their first 7 three-pointers and racing to a 44-20 lead on Watson’s dunk.

That was the largest deficit the Cowboys have had all season.

“It is deflating when we are missing layups and they come back and are hitting their threes,” said Wade. 

DJ Richards was the third Cowboy to finish in double figures with 10.

Anyone hope of a comeback ended at the start of the second half as McNeese missed two layups and the Zags responded with a Ben Gregg three to make it 51-23 with just over 18 minutes remaining.