McNeese beats Lamar but misses Southland tourney berth

Mar 3, 2018, 11:50 pm

LAKE CHARLES, La. -- Kalob Ledoux scored 17 points, Stephen Ugochukwu and Jacob Ledoux added 12 apiece, and McNeese rallied to beat Lamar 69-60 in Saturday's regular-season finale but missed getting the eighth and final berth in the Southland Conference Tournament.

McNeese (11-17, 8-10), which entered tied for eighth with Abilene Christian and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, needed to beat Lamar and for either the Wildcats or Islanders to lose, but Abilene Christian beat Incarnate Word on Saturday.

Nick Garth scored 18 points, Colton Weisbrod added 12, and Joey Frenchwood 11 for Lamar (19-12, 11-7), the tournament's sixth seed.

Jacob Ledoux's free throw amid a 10-2 run put the Cowboys up 46-45 and they led 55-53 on Jarren Greenwood's 3 before Garth tied it with a jumper. Quatarrius Wilson's free throw sparked a 7-0 run for a 62-55 McNeese lead and the Cowboys outscored the Cardinals 6-5 in the final two minutes.

Lamar led 37-35 at halftime after hitting five 3 pointers on 39.5 percent shooting from the field to the Cowboys' 50 percent.

Greenwood scored 11 points and Wilson had 10 with 12 rebounds for the Cowboys, who played their final game in Burton Coliseum, which will be replaced by a new facility.