The Cowboys can’t finish No. 25 Bulldogs – American Press

In the hometown of Elvis, the Cowboys fell short of pulling off a king-size upset.

Instead, McNeese struggled down the stretch and let the no. 25 Mississippi State wiggled off the hook in the closing moments Saturday in Tupelo, Mississippi.

The loss dropped the Cowboys to 5-5, while the Bulldogs improved to 9-1 with the win at Cadence Bank Arena. The game was played in Elvis Presley’s hometown as part of Magnolia Madness and had the feel of a tournament game between two teams that participated in last spring’s NCAA tournament.

“We played well for 36, 37 minutes,” McNeese head coach Will Wade said. “I feel like today was one of our best games.”

Playing one of the toughest schedules in program history, the Cowboys have struggled to close out halves and games. Despite having late shots for draws or wins, they have lost three of their last four.

“We have to finish,” Wade said. “We got a lot of good shots, but we have to finish around the rim.

“Some of it was their defense and their physicality. They really push you.”

The Cowboys were looking for their first win over a Top 25 team in program history, and with eight minutes left, they had the Bulldogs in their sights.

Frank Parker’s 3-pointer gave the Cowobys a 55-50 lead, but Mississippi State scored the next five to tie the game. That’s when Parker struck again with another 3-pointer as he finished with 16 points, 10 in the final nine minutes.

But McNeese made just one of his next eight shots as the Bulldogs went on a 9-0 run to lead 64-58 with 2:13 left. Another Parker 3-pointer cut the lead in half with 1:58 left.

Good defense gave the Cowboys two chances to cut that lead, but Javohn Garcia missed a tough shot in the lane and Christian Shumate missed a 3-point attempt from the top of the key with 44 seconds left.

“It was an open shot that he can hit; it just didn’t go down,” Wade said.

RJ Melendez made two free throws after grabbing an offensive rebound with 9.8 seconds left to close the game. McNeese had a chance to secure the rebound and have one last shot, but the ball hit the hands of Parker and Joe Charles and went straight to Melendez.

Charles finished his best game as a Cowboy with a game-high 19 points. He missed the last game with a leg injury.

“I thought Joe played really well,” Wade said. “He looks like he’s coming along.”

Two other Cowboys, Garcia and Brandon Murray, finished with 10 points each. Josh Hubbard was the only other Bulldog to reach double figures with 16.

Garcia’s layup with just four seconds left in the first half tied the game at 29 heading into halftime.

It came after the Bulldogs found their range after a rough start. After Branden Murray’s 3-pointer gave McNeese its biggest lead of the night at 24-16 with just 3:42 left in the half, Mississippi State got hot.

Thanks to a pair of 3-pointers each from Claudell Harris and then Hubbard, the Bulldogs went on a 13-3 run to take their first lead in over 16 minutes, 29-27.

Prior to that, Hubbard, Mississippi State’s leading scorer with 19 points in a game, had not scored. Then, on 37 seconds, he gave his team the lead before Garcia evened things up and went back to the locker room.

Shumate was limited to just eight minutes with some early fouls after getting off to a fast start with five points in the first six minutes.

The Cowboys hit 9 of 22 3-point shots (41.5%) and outrebounded the bigger Bulldogs 39-35. But Mississippi State made six more free throws than McNeese shot.

The Bulldogs hit 23 of 33 from the foul line, while the Cowboys finished the night just 10 of 17.

“We’ve got to make the free throws we get,” Wade said.

Still, the game showed progress in several areas for the Cowboys.

“I like where we’re moving to,” Wade said. “We just have to make progress this week.”

The loss was the closest McNeese has come to knocking off a ranked team since losing to No. 20 at Texas Tech on New Year’s Day 2010.

McNeese will play its final Southland Conference game next Sunday, Dec. 22 when it travels to Lafayette to face the Ragin Cajuns. On Saturday, Lamar blasted ULL 75-45 in the Cajundome.

The Cajuns (2-9) are just 1-2 against SLC teams this season.