THIBODAUX – Nobody’s perfect, at least in the Southland Conference.

While McNeese State finished a perfect run through January for the second straight season, the Cowboys lost their first game in February.

Thus, a road trip that began fast on the Texas border ended with a slow death deep in the Louisiana Bayou Saturday afternoon inside Stopher Gymnasium.

Thanks to a barrage of 3-pointers, Nicholls gunned down McNeese State 71-63 Saturday afternoon inside Stopher Gymnasium.

In doing so, the Colonels ended a couple of Cowboy streaks and at least made the rest of the regular season interesting. 

The loss ended McNeese’s 21-game streak against Southland competition and 12 straight overall this season. It dropped the Cowboys to 10-1in the league and 16-6 overall.

Nicholls improved to 13-9, 7-4. McNeese’s lead in the SLC dropped to two games with nine remaining as they try to repeat as regular-season champs.

“I was worried about this all week,” said McNeese head coach Will Wade. “We got bludgeoned on the road.

“Nicholls was much more physical than we were, and we could not finish.”

The Colonels won the game from long range, making 11 of their 22 3-point attempts. McNeese went 0-for-11 from beyond the arc. That gave Nicholls a 33-point advantage that was impossible for the Cowboys to overcome.

“We didn’t deserve to win,” said Wade. “They were the better team today. I would have been highway robbery had we won this game.”

Still, the Cowboys had their chances, cutting the lead to four on Brandon Murray’s second straight traditional 3-point play. The second made the Nicholls lead just 67-63 with 1:53 remaining. 

But Paris Miller followed by running the clock down and hitting a tough layup with 1:19 to play, pushing the lead back up to six, and the Cowboys could not recover.

“I’m proud of our mental toughness when they made their run at us,” said Nicholls head coach Tevon Saddler. “We made some plays when we had to make them.”

The win was the Colonels’ first six tries over McNeese, including three last year when the teams met in the SLC championship game.

“Give them credit,” said Murray, who had his best night as a Cowboy with 16 points. “They shot the ball well; we can’t make that up. We have to get back and work on our defense.”

Michael Gray finished with 20 points on 4 of 6 3-point shooting to lead the Colonels, who had six players hit threes.

“I was disappointed in our defense,” said Wade. “I told you guys I was worried about this game all week.”

Javohn Garcia finished with 12 points, while Quadir Copeland had 14. 

The Colonels came out firing, hitting their first four threes, and made 8-11 to grab a 35-28 lead.

“That gave us confidence,” said Saddler. “Then we had to stop their shooters. We could not give up threes and get beat up inside as well.”

Any real shot at a comeback ended late when the Cowboys struggled at the free-throw line while trying to play catchup. They missed five of those, including the front end of the one-and-one twice.

“We had our chances, but you can’t do that and turn the ball over when you get a steal when you are behind,” Wade said.

The Cowboys will return home Monday night for their only game this season against Incarnate Word. Tip-off in the Legacy Center is set for 6 p.m. 

McNeese has won the last three games against UIW. The game will start three straight at home for the Pokes.