Special to the American Press

NEW ORLEANS – Harwin Francois hit a three-pointer with 12.6 seconds to play to give McNeese its first lead of the game against New Orleans and capping a rally from a 22-point second-half deficit as the Cowboys won their second straight game, defeating the Privateers 79-78 here Saturday.

The win lifted the Cowboys to 7-19 overall but more importantly improved their Southland Conference record to 4-9 and lifting them into a tie for eighth place with Lamar and just one game behind UIW and HCU for sixth place. UNO (6-18, 3-10) lost its ninth-consecutive game.

McNeese trailed 49-29 at the half and 51-29 early in the second half when Francois, who went 0-for-5 from three-point range in the first half, made the first of two straight 3s to energize an offense that matched its fewest first half points scored in a conference game.

The Cowboys slowly chipped away at the lead but the Privateers had an answer and led 64-46 following a Daniel Sackey three-pointer off a Cowboy turnover with 13:56 on the clock.

Christian Shumate, who led all scorers with 21 points, scored 11 of those in that final 13:56 when McNeese outscored UNO 30-12 and tying the game 76-76 after his hook shot with 1:54 to play coming out of a timeout. Also during that span, the Cowboys connected on 11 of 16 from the floor, forced UNO into seven turnovers in half of its possessions, and scored 12 points off those turnovers.

Shumate, who entered the game making just 41 percent from the free throw line, made 9 of 10 from the charity stripe and started an 11-2 run with two freebies to pull the Cowboys to within 68-56 with 11:15 to play.

Johnathan Massie, who finished with six points, put two of those in at the free throw line to cut the margin to 10 then after a Trae English steal, Shumate bot a putback layup to put the Cowboys to within single digits at 68-60 with 9:21 remaining.

Shumate connected on a pull up jumper with 6:01 to play to make it a one possession game at 70-67. UNO answered with a jumper by Khaleb Wilson-Rouse to go back up by 5 then hit two free throws after an English layup to keep the Privateers up by two possessions with 4:00 on the clock.

McNeese came out of the final media timeout with Zach Scott hitting a 3 to cut the gap to 74-72 with 3:45 to play. Scott finished with 15 points on 3 for 5 shooting from long range. UNO’s D’Ante Bell followed with a dunk then after a Cowboy turnover, UNO was looking to extend its 4-point lead. But a miss on a Marquez Cooper shot was followed with a Massie driving layup to cut the UNO lead to 76-74 with 2:43 left.

The Cowboys tied the game at 76-76 off Shumate’s hook shot following a miss by Bell on the front end of a 1-and-1. Jamond Vincent had an easy layup to put UNO back up 78-76 with 1:34 to play.

Massie had a couple of looks under the basket but neither were able to fall and then another foul sent Bell to the free throw line with 31 second left where he missed another front end. Scott grabbed the rebound and was able to get the ball to Massie who fed Francois for the winning 3, his third of the game as he finished with nine points.

Tyson Jackson’s turn-around jumper with one second left fell off the mark.

The Cowboys had one of their best nights at the free throw line, connecting on 20 of 24, and after making just 8 of 23 from the field in the first half, sank 17 of 29 for 59 percent in the second 20 minutes, including 6 of 10 from three-point range.

UNO shot 57 percent for the game (30-53) but was nearly unstoppable in the first half when it sank 18 of 29 for 62 percent as it built a 20-point halftime lead.

English was the third Cowboy to score in double-figures as he finished with 12 points and a game-high six assists.

McNeese turned the ball over 13 times in the game but just twice in the second half as it outscored UNO 50-29.

The Cowboys will return home for two games next week, first against UIW on Thursday then next Saturday versus Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.