McNeese made history in New Orleans. 

The Cowboys became the first team in the Southland Conference to win 400 league games when they defeated UNO 78-64 Saturday afternoon at Lakefront Arena. 

While it wasn’t always pretty, the Pokes won their 20th game for the second straight season, improving to 20-6, 14-1. It is the first time they have won 20 games in consecutive seasons since the 2001 and 2002 campaigns and the fifth time overall. 

They maintained their three-game lead in the league with five games remaining, reducing the magic number for winning consecutive regular season titles to three.

Lamar and Southeastern, who the Cowboys will play Monday night in Hammond, won Saturday to stay within striking distance at 11-4. The loss was the ninth straight for the Privateers, who fell to 4-22, 2-13. 

DJ Richards led the way against UNO for the second time this season. He matched his season-high with 21 points, which he scored against the Privateers when the team met in Lake Charles. 

It was Richards’ third 20-point game of the season. The junior sharpshooter hit 6 of 9 3-pointers, scoring 15 points in the opening half.

“We got DJ some open looks early, and he has been shooting the ball well lately,” said McNeese head coach Will Wade. 

In two games against UNO, Richards made 13 of 24 long-range shots. As a team, McNeese made 11 of 32 3-pointers on Saturday. 

With his six threes, Richards has 147 and moved into the top 10 all-time in McNeese history when it comes to shooting behind the arc.

Brandon Murray came off the bench to score 17, making three of his five 3-point tries. Sincere Parker added 11 as the Cowboy subs outscored their UNO counterparts 30-8. 

Christian Shumate added 14 points and pulled down seven rebounds. Joe Charles had 10 rebounds to lead McNeese on the boards. 

However, the Cowboys struggled to put away the overmatched Privateers, who rallied from 23 points down in the second half to cut the McNeese lead to seven (62-55) with 6:56 left on Luke Davis’ second 3-pointer of the season. 

The Cowboys responded as Murray started an 8-0 run with a 3-pointer. Shumate finished the spurt and UNO dunk, putting McNeese back up 70-55 with 4:40 remaining. 

Leland Coleman led New Orleans with 14 points, while JR Jacobs and Kohen Rowbatham each added 14. The Privateers got back in the game by making 10 of 21 3-pointers.

“We played a pretty clean first half, but I thought they outplayed us in the second half,” said Wade. “They were really physical with us, and we have to get better at playing through that.”

McNeese did score 26 points off 20 UNO turnovers. 

Richards hit four threes early as the Cowboys started fast. They outscored UNO 26-6 over the final 10:22 of the first half behind Richards and led 42-25 at intermission.

The Cowboys will need to play better on Monday, as Southeastern was the only team to beat McNeese last season, doing so in Hammond. The Lions rallied Saturday to beat Nicholls 84-81 in overtime on Sam Hines’ 3-pointer at the buzzer. 

“That is a big game for us,” said Wade. “It will be a big challenge. We have to play a full 40 minutes and we haven’t done that in a couple of weeks.”