SAN ANTONIO – The University of the Incarnate Word men's basketball team hosted a hot-shooting McNeese squad on Wednesday, losing its Southland Conference opener to the Cowboys by a score of 88-77 at the McDermott Center.
NOTABLES
- Each team shot better than 50 percent from the floor. McNeese hit a scorching 66.7 percent; UIW shot a commendable 52.7 percent.
- Dwight Murray Jr. led the Cardinals with 18 points. Charles Brown III scored 14. Morgan Taylor and Augustine Ene each scored 13.
- Rodell Brown scored 23 points for the Cowboys.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half:
- The Cardinals started Antoine Smith Jr., Christian Peevy, Jorden Kite, Murray and Taylor.
- The Cardinals took an opening 6-0 lead on baskets by Smith, Murray and Peevy.
- The Cowboys outscored the Cardinals 23-4 over the next nine minutes to establish a 23-10 lead.
- McNeese opened its lead to 17 points, 37-20, with 5:15 remaining in the half.
- Then, three-pointers by Smith, Murray, and Kite propelled a 13-4 UIW surge that closed the halftime margin to eight points. McNeese led 41-33 at the intermission.
- McNeese, led by Rodell Brown's 16 points, shot 65 percent in the first half. UIW shot 48 percent.
- Murray had seven points and Ene six for the Cardinals at halftime.
Second Half:
- Charles Brown III's two buckets helped the Cardinals trim the lead to six points on two separate occasions in the first few minutes of the second half.
- A subsequent 13-3 McNeese run gave the Cowboys a 16-point lead.
- Although McNeese built a 25-point lead at the 11:28 mark, the Cardinals trimmed the margin to 11 points with six minutes left -- thanks in part to three pointers by Murray and Brown.
- Thereafter, the two teams battled evenly for the duration of the game.
NEXT UP
UIW continues its two-game homestand on Saturday night at the McDermott Center with a 7 p.m. game against Nicholls.
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