Sluggish early, the Cowboys found their grove with a big second-half surge, picking up their first win of the season in the process.

McNeese State scored 63 points after intermission, destroying the College of Biblical Studies 111-57 in the process Thursday night in front of 3,036 inside the Legacy Center.  It was the Cowboys’ 19th straight home victory.

With No. 2 Alabama on the horizon and a disappointing opening loss to South Dakota State in their rear-view mirror, the Cowboys didn’t waste their shot at the non-Division I foe from Houston.

“Good to get on the winning track,” said McNeese head coach Will Wade.

Javhon Garcia led the way for McNeese with 21 points, one shy of his Cowboy best from a year ago and two off his career-high. Garcia finished 8-for-11 from the floor and 3 of 6 on three-pointers.

“I was just playing through the offense,” said Garcia. “I’ll do anything we need for us to win.”

Garcia started at point guard in the opener. Thursday Omar Cooper, who was last year’s starter at the point but didn’t play at South Dakota State, started and played 28 minutes.

He dished out a career-high 13 assists while grabbing eight rebounds and scoring four points.

“Cooper got our pace going and played a good game,” said Wade. “I give him a lot of credit, he has stayed ready. He showed why we value him.”

Sincere Parker added 20 points in 28 minutes after having just five in limited time during the opener. Parker has been slowed in the preseason with injuries.

“It was good to see Parker get the rust off,” said Wade. “We saw a little of what he can do.”

“It is never easy fighting through injuries,” said Parker. “Tonight we got into a grove and corrected a lot of little mistakes.”

A total of seven Cowboys had at least nine points with six of them reaching double figures. Quadir Copeland had 17 points, 13 coming in the second half. He also had four assists and seven rebounds.

“We still got to get everyone buying into their roles and get our chemistry right,” said Garcia. “We are working on that.”

Frank Madubuku led all scorers with 24 for CBS.

McNeese shot 60 percent from the floor (42-70) and was 10-for-30 from long range. 

Joe Charles started the Cowboys off by hitting a pair of threes in the first three minutes to give the Pokes a 12-0 lead. Parker’s 3-point play with 7:52 in the half made it 31-10 McNeese.

Christian Shumate took a pass from Brandon Murray with just over six minutes left and finished with his first dunk of the season for a 37-12 advantage At the half McNeese led 51-24.

Garcia opened the second half with back-to-back treys and then two free throws, while Shumate sandwiched in three points of his own to make it 61-24 with 16:31 to play.

After that McNeese put on a show, finishing the rest of the game with five dunks to make it a blowout.

DJ Richards finished with 13 points while Charles added 12 and Bryant Selebangue chipped in 10.

McNeese will travel to Alabama Monday night for a showdown with the Tide.

“It will be a large step up in weight class,” said Wade. “They are the best team in the country in my opinion.”