Cowboys dominate Patriots, 103-51, on Monday

LAKE CHARLES – Sha’Markus Kennedy recorded his third straight 20-point game with 22 points on 10 of 11 shooting while as a team, McNeese dished out 30 assists on 43 made shots – just one shy of the single-game school record – as the Cowboys rolled to a 103-51 win over Arlington Baptist at the H&HP Arena on Monday.

Sam Baker added 18 points for the Cowboys (2-4) while Dru Kuxhausen, the nation’s top three-point shooter, chipped in 16 points on 4 of 8 shooting from long range. Truman Moore added 12 points coming off the bench.

Kennedy added 11 rebounds on the night to finish with his second double-double on the year. Roydell Brown led the team with 14 rebounds and nine assists to go along with six points and just missed out on the program’s first triple-double since the 2008-09 season.

McNeese, who previously wrapped up a week-long road swing to Wisconsin and New Mexico, is now 2-0 at home on the year and averaging 103 points per game.

“We traveled over 5,000 miles this past week and to come back and really have no day of prep, for us to win a basketball game by 50, I thought we played really well in stretches,” said head coach Heath Schroyer. “I thought we were in a little bit of mud early and the start of the second half, but then we really found our rhythm and our bench was really good tonight.”

McNeese led 49-28 at the half but it took 10 minutes of game time for the Cowboys to open up the lead.

Up 23-15 with 10:29 to play in the half, went on a 10-0 run that was sparked by back-to-back three-pointers from Kuxhausen and A.J. Lawson, then a Kuxhausen fast break layup and ended with a Moore layup to make it a 33-15 game less than two minutes later.

The Cowboys connected on 21 of 34 fro 62 percent from the field in the half as Brown did a good job of finding the shooters with his seven dimes in the first 20 minutes.

Arlington Baptist, a member of the National Christian College Athletic Association and a qualifier for last year’s NCCAA National Championship Tournament, closed the gap to 16 points at 55-39 with 16:06 to play in the second half.

Schroyer made a line change by going to his bench with five new players and the result was an 18-0 run that widened the gap to 34 points at 73-39 at the 10:03 mark.

Kennedy scored his 20th point on the night on a layup with 5:53 to play to make it 89-47 then with 15 seconds remaining, Jalen Poyser’s layup put the Cowboys over the century mark at 101. Baker knocked down two free throws with two seconds to play to end the scoring.

McNeese shot 60.6 percent for the game (43 for 71) and 50 percent from three-point range (11-20). The Cowboys also sank all six of their free throws attempted and dominated the boards with a 45-19 advantage.

ABU was led in scoring by Tra Mallard’s 11 points and the Patriots shot 20 of 54 for 27 percent for the game and 6 of 24 for 25 percent from long range.

McNeese will fly the friendly skies once more when it visits Richmond for a Friday evening game that will broadcast live on ESPN-plus. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m.

NOTABLES:
• Sha’Markus Kennedy has scored in double-figures all six games this season and has netted 20 or more in three straight.
• Roydell Brown was one assist and four points shy of becoming the first McNeese player to record a triple double since John Pichon did it against Wiley in the 2008-09 season.
• With 62 three-point goals already made, the Cowboys are on pace for 320 on the season which would blister the school record of 205 set in the 2015-16 season and set a new Southland Conference mark which is currently 287 by the 2010 Sam Houston State squad.
• Dru Kuxhausen, the nation’s leader in three-pointers made, added four on Monday night to give him 26 on the season.
• Kennedy is 21 of 26 from the field the last two games, a shooting percentage of .808.
• Brown has dished out 14 assists to just 3 turnovers in the last two outings.