The Cowboys had one last bit of business to clean up before they entered the Southland Conference tournament.

Consider the slate completely wiped. 

For the first time in 23 years, McNeese won a game in Nacogdoches, Texas, thumping Stephen F. Austin 95-64 Monday night to end the regular season. It was the Lumberjacks’ worst home loss of the season.

That broke a 14-game losing streak in Johnson Coliseum and tied SFA’s record for most SLC wins in a season at 19. McNeese (25-6, 19-1) will now have eight days off before opening up postseason play in the semifinals of the league tourney a week from Tuesday.

The Cowboys won their second straight Southland title by a whopping five games. Finishing up on SFA’s home floor, the last team to dominate the league before leaving for the Western Athletic Conference, was special to McNeese.

“To be able to come in here and do this is another box to check for us,” said McNeese head coach Will Wade. “We have talked about setting records and broken many of them the last two years.”

Sincere Parker put an exclamation point on the night with a thunderous windmill dunk with 30 seconds remaining to end McNeese’s scoring. Parker led all scorers with 22 points two days after scoring 25 at Lamar.

“Sin was sensational in the second half,” said Wade. “When he gets going, he is one of the best scorers around.”

Parker scored 21 during a 15-minute stretch of the second half that saw the Cowboys extend a 46-37 halftime lead out to the winning margin. After making six threes in the first half, the Lumberjacks missed all 12 of their tries in the second.

“That win was amazing,” said McNeese forward Joe Charles. “We have momentum. We are hot.”

Charles scored 15 points to follow Parker’s lead, hitting all five of his shots from behind the 3-point line. Charles also had nine rebounds, while DJ Richards went four of five from long range, ending with 14. 

“DJ and Joe shot the ball real well; that got us going,” said Wade. “We moved the ball and shared it well also.”

Christian Shumate added 12 points, all in the first half. However, he played just 17 minutes as Wade cleared the bench and divided the minutes.

“Anybody on this team can get hot,” said Charles. “You saw that tonight. We shared the ball and have great team chemistry.”

The win was McNeese’s ninth straight and 20th in their last 21 games.

In its return to the Southland, SFA ended a disappointing season, finishing in ninth place at 14-17, 7-13, and out of the tournament. Keon Thompson led the Lumberjacks with 15 points.

Over the last two seasons under Wade, the Cowboys are 55-10, the best record in program history. They are 38-2 against the Southland, winning 21 straight on their home court.

That’s where they will be next week when the Cowboys host the tournament with a second-straight NCAA tournament bid on the line. They are 31-1 overall at home since Wade’s arrival.

“It’s on to the tournament,” said Wade. “We have another level we have to get to.”