McNeese Cowboys fall to San Diego State, 83-52

SAN DIEGO, Ca. – The McNeese men’s basketball team fought hard but trailed the entirety of Friday night’s game against San Diego State, dropping the road contest 52-83. The Cowboys drop to 1-2 on the season and will visit Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles on Sunday.

Friday night’s contest had a rocky start for McNeese (1-2). San Diego State (2-1) went on a 9-0 scoring run, leaving the Cowboys in the dust.

At the 17:20 mark, senior Stephen Ugochukwu would sink the first basket for McNeese. It would be that score that would lead the Cowboys on a scoring drive to bring the score to 11-13 in favor of San Diego State.

Following Ugochukwu’s score, the Cowboy defense would send SDSU into a scoring drought of over six and a half minutes.

The Aztecs would pull ahead again, going on a 26-2 scoring drive, burning 7:35 off the clock. The Cowboys would head into the locker room at the half trailing SDSU 46-19.

At halftime, Jarren Greenwood would lead McNeese with seven points, while he and senior Kalob Ledoux would pull down four boards each.

McNeese was struggling with its shooting efficiency in the first 20 minutes, hitting only eight of 32 attempts, and one of 11 shots from beyond the arc.

Newcomer Quatarrius Wilson continued to be an offensive leader for McNeese in the second half, with the best shooting percentage (6-9) and point total (12).

The Cowboys would be unable to overcome the point deficit built by the Aztecs in the first half, coming no closer than 25 points from SDSU’s lead.

SDSU took its biggest lead of the night in the second half with 0:42 on the clock, when McNeese trailed by 33 points. The Aztecs would be driven by junior Devin Watson, who would finish the night with 20 points, four rebounds, and eight assists.

The 52 points scored by McNeese was its least in a match-up since January of this year. The Cowboys were plagued by poor shooting percentages, finishing the game at only 31% from the field and 15% from the arc.

Wilson finished with a team high of 15 points and lead McNeese with eight boards as well.

Other top performers include Greenwood (9 pts, 4 rbds) and Demarco Owens (7pts, 4 rbds).

11 of the 14 Cowboys were able to pull down a rebound in the game; as a team, McNeese was only out-rebounded 36-42.

McNeese will close out its California trip at Loyola Marymount on Sunday, tip-off slated for 5:00PM (CT).