HAMMOND — Just when things were about to get interesting, the Cowboys took back control of the Southland Conference race.

Behind Joe Charles and Javohn Garcia, McNeese rallied from seven points down in the final 13 minutes to topple Southeastern 88-82 Monday night in the University Center.

With the win, the Cowboys moved closer to their first back-to-back league titles since 2002. At 21-6, 15-1, McNeese holds a three-game lead over Lamar with four to play. 

Southeastern fell to 17-10, 11-5, and out of contention for the No. 1 seed, having lost both games to the Cowboys.

Garcia finished with 18 points, and Charles scored 17 and 10 rebounds to lead the Cowboys.

In the final 14 minutes, after the Cowboys fell behind 56-51, Charles scored 11 points, while Garcia scored 10. 

“We just fed off each other,” said Charles. “Javohn hit big shots, I hit big shots. The team just fed off each other.”

Charles hit a 3-pointer with 12:14 left to give McNeese the lead for good, 63-62. T’Johnn Brown ended a 17-4 run with a driving layup with 9:34 left to put the Cowboys up 70-64. The Lions hung close, but when DJ Richards hit a corner three with 1:06 left, the lead was 85-75 and the fight was over.

“Joe and JG played well,” said McNeese head coach Will Wade. “Great game between two high-level teams. Huge win for us.”

The victory guaranteed McNeese a double-bye in the postseason SLC Tournament, which the Cowboys will host in March.

“That is the first step for us,” said Wade. “It is a really important step. Our league has improved, and having only to win two games is a huge advantage.”

But the Cowboys still want the No. 1 seed and title.

“This was big, but we want the championship,” said Charles. “We have to stay focused still. We got games to win.”

Richards continued his hot shooting, making 4 of 7 3-pointers and finishing with 14 points. Over the last four games, Richards has made 18 of his 32 3-point attempts.

Richards started the Cowboys off fast with three threes as they took a 20-8 lead six minutes into the game. The lead grew to 30-13 on Bryant Selebangue’s follow-up bucket with 8:52 left in the half. 

“We got off to a great start,” said Wade. “Then we got bogged down on offense, but we refocused and adjusted.”

Led by Jakevion Buckley, the Lions cut the lead to 44-41 at the half. Buckley led all scorers with 25 points. 

Jaiden Lawrence got hot to start the second half, hitting three threes to give SLU its biggest lead of the night at 60-53 with just over 14 minutes left. That’s when Garcia and Charles took over, as McNeese hit nine of its last 14 shots over the final 10:37 to earn the hard-fought win.

Christian Shumate added 10 points and six rebounds for the Cowboys, while Brown finished with a career-high 13. 

McNeese will return home Saturday to play Texas A&M-Corpus Christi with its magic number just two.

“We have to enter into a championship phase,” said Wade. “Tonight, our guys met the challenge.”