McNeese drops season opener at SMU, 86-62

DALLAS – Brendan Medley-Bacon made his McNeese debut, scoring a team-high 15 points, while returning guard Collin Warren scored 11 as the Cowboys battled to the very end in an 86-62 season-opening loss to SMU here Tuesday night.

Myles Lewis led the Cowboys with 10 rebounds to go along with seven points, three steals and three blocked shots in making his debut with the team, one of nine players to see action with six of those being newcomers.

“I thought we really battled,” said first-year head coach John Aiken. “There were two lulls in the first half when we subbed out our starters and they went on a run. They did a good job with their pressure and really sped the game up on us in the second half.”

McNeese trailed 39-31 at the half after SMU snapped a 31-31 tie with an 8-0 run to end the frame.

“We didn’t do a good job of executing our offensive there,” said Aiken. “Defensively, I thought we did a really good job especially early on where I think we really bothered them. They have one of the best point guards in the nation and we had 12 steals and forced 15 turnovers on them.

“Medley-Bacon was phenomenal tonight, especially in the first half,” said Aiken.

“I think we did some good things,” said Medley-Bacon. “It was our first game, our first real game, so it was a learning experience. We have some things we have to work on, but all in all, I think we played a good game and we’ll bounce back.”

The Cowboys played well in the first half and the first 10 minutes of the second half before the Mustangs began to pull away midway through the second, especially when Kellon Taylor left the game with a cramp with just over 11 minutes to play.

“Losing KT was a big hit to us,” said Aiken. “The guys look to him for leadership and when he left, that was a big blow to us.”

McNeese scored the first two points of the contest and led 13-8 following a Medley-Bacon layup with 13:01 to play in the first half.

SMU then rolled off 12 straight points while holding the Cowboys scoreless over the next 4:07 until Zach Scott buried a three-pointer to cut the deficit to 20-16 at the 8:54 mark.

The Mustangs then got a layup from Tristan Clark and Michael Weathers made good on a layup-and-1 to put them up by 9.

Warren scored the next six points for the Cowboys to cut the margin to 3, then a couple minutes later, Harwin Francois knocked down a trey to tie the game at 31-31 with 3:01 to play in the half. But SMU would take advantage of a couple of McNeese turnovers and missed shots and end the half on an 8-0 run to take a 39-31 lead into the break.

The Cowboys scored the first three points of the second half behind a Johnathan Massie layup-and-1 to make it a 39-34 game. Medley-Bacon hit a couple of free throws followed by a TJ Moss bucket to pull McNeese to within five points at 43-38 with 17:35 to play.

The Mustangs scored the next four points after baskets by Weathers and Kendric Davis, who led his team with 18 points, to extend the lead back to nine points. The Cowboys snapped the mini-run after a slam by Medley-Bacon, and after SMU scored four straight again to grab a 51-40 lead, Warren sank a three-pointer with 14:47 to play to pull the Cowboys back into a single-digit deficit at 51-43.

From there, the Mustangs put together a 12-2 run to build a 57-45 lead with 13:22 remaining.

The lead grew to 20 at 67-47 following a Davis 3-pointer with 10:43 to play. McNeese was unable to get it under 20 the remainder of the game.

Zach Nutall, last year’s Southland Conference Player of the Year while playing for Sam Houston, scored 14 points for SMU while Tristan Clark added 12 points and Weathers with 11.

McNeese connected on 34 percent from the field (24 for 71) and was 6 of 27 for 22 percent from behind the arc. SMU sank 31 of 66 for 47 percent overall and 8 of 20 for 40 percent from long range. The Mustangs held a 47-41 advantage on the glass and a 42-32 scoring lead in the paint.

SMU scored 20 points off of 17 McNeese turnovers while the Cowboys scored 14 points from 15 Mustang errors.

The Cowboys will remain in the Metroplex for a Thursday night game against TCU.

Tip-off will be at 7 p.m. and the game will broadcast on ESPN+.