McNeese pushes past Texas State late, 59-48

RUSTON – Antavion Collum scored 15 points and pulled down 11 rebounds for his fist double-double of the season, then came away with a clutch steal late in the game as McNeese defeated Texas State 59-48 in the opening game of the Louisiana Tech MTE here Tuesday afternoon.

The win improved the Cowboys’ record to 5-1 on the year, marking the best start in 62 years (1961-62) and beat Texas State (2-3) for the first time since March 2011.

Christian Shumate reached a milestone with his first two rebounds of the game as he became just the 19th player in school history to record 600 career rebounds. He finished the day with 13 points and nine rebounds while Javohn Garcia added 10 points.

McNeese held a padded 7-9 point lead for much of the second half but the Bobcats were able to cut the margin to 48-43 with 4:41 to play. Cameron Jones followed with a big three-pointer to put the lead at 51-43 and which started an 8-0 run for the Cowboys and a 56-43 lead with 1:43 on the clock.

Shumate threw down the exclamation point with a two-handed, fast-break dunk with a minute on the clock.

The Cowboys shot 49 percent (25-51) for the game but came out in the second half, sinking 61 percent (14-23). McNeese also out-rebounded Texas State 34-30 and held one of the top offensive rebounding teams in the nation to just nine off the offensive glass and eight second-chance points.

Kaden Gumbs led the Bobcats with 13 points as Texas State’s 48 points were the fewest scored on the season. Texas State made 40 percent (19-48) from the field and just 5 of 19 for 26 percent from three-point range. Texas State entered the game ranking 17th in the NCAA with 16.5 offensive rebounds per game.

McNeese led 26-20 at the half as it held Texas State to its lowest first half total on the season, two points fewer than the 22 it scored against Oklahoma a week ago.

Texas State led 7-4 early but the Cowboys tightened the defense and held the Bobcats scoreless over the next 6:38 while the offense mounted an 11-0 run to build a 15-7 lead with 8:36 to play in the half.

The Bobcats answered with five straight points to pull to withing three, but Collum sank a top-of-the-key three to build the lead back to six points at 18-12.

McNeese will take on Louisiana Tech at 3 p.m. on Wednesday in a game that will air live on ESPN+.