The Contraband

Issue date: 2/1/10 Section: Sports

Media Credit: McNeeseSports.com Diego Kapelan nails one of his five three pointers versus Central Arkansas.

The McNeese Cowboys basketball team thought they had turned their season around with back to back wins over conference opponents, but faltered on their path back to the Southland Conference tournament with a 63-61 loss at the hands of the Nicholls State Colonels last Wednesday.

The Cowboys now hold a 7-12 record overall, 2-3 in the Southland Conference.

In their second conference win, the Pokes traveled to Conway, Arkansas to battle the Central Arkansas Bears.

The Cowboys jumped out to a quick 9-0 lead and never looked in the rearview as the held off their conference rivals for a 68-53 victory.

McNeese was up by as much as 22 points at one point in the contest, and the closest the Bears ever came was within seven points in the final minutes of the game.

The first half definitely decided the game for the Cowboys, as they held a sizeable 34-21 lead heading into the half.

"We knew they were going to make a run in the second half and they did," said Cowboys head coach Dave Simmons. "We need to keep people off of the free throw line and they got 35 tries from there tonight. But in the end we got good play out of everybody and getting up early like we did was the key."

McNeese's Diego Kapelan led all scorers in the first half with 13 points, including three, three pointers. Patrick Richard added another 10 points in a half where the Pokes outrebounded the Bears 23-16 and blocked six shots.

Richard ended up leading the contest with 17 points, draining seven of his 11 shots. Kapelan was held to only one three pointer in the second half, rounding out his night with 16 points. P.J. Alawoya led the game with nine rebounds, as the Pokes controlled the boards, grabbing 45 rebounds compared to the Bear' 35.

After a four-day break the Cowboys headed to Thibodaux, Louisiana where they went to war with Nicholls State.

McNeese jumped off to an eight point lead early on, but was answered by a 13-2 scoring run by the Colonels, and trailed 35-32 at halftime.

The Cowboys would not regain the lead until Diego Kapelan nailed a three pointer with 4:05 remaining in the contest, to give them a 59-56 lead. The Colonels would answer, but a Patrick Richard jumper would give McNeese the lead back with 1:41 remaining. Nicholls would answer yet again, adding four quick points to give them the 63-61 lead with seven seconds remaining.

"We had a great opportunity to be playing for first place against Stephen F. Austin on Sunday but we just didn't do our job," said Simmons. "This was a close ball game that we definitely should have won."

The Pokes outrebounded their opponents once again, this time 32-29. Alawoya led the way again with nine and Elbryan Neal added six. C.J. Collins led the Cowboys in scoring with 14 points, and Alawoya and Kapelan both had 12. Patrick Richard was held to under ten points for just the fifth time this season, putting up eight points.

The Cowboys hosted Conference frontrunners Stephen F. Austin over the weekend in the Lake Charles Civic Center, and are geared up to travel to Natchitoches Wednesday to play the Demons of Northwestern State.

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