Courtesy: McNeeseSports.com Jamarcus Little puts in a dunk against the University of Hawaii.
Honolulu, HI – The McNeese State Cowboys came close but couldn’t manage to hold off the University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors as they dropped their second game of the season 73-65 here Sunday night.
The Cowboys managed to cut the Warrior lead to just one point on five separate occasions in the second period after coming out of the locker room and shooting just one for six from the field in the first seven minutes of the half.
Freshman Brandon Regis sparked the Cowboy come from behind attempt with a lay up followed by a quick Stephan Martin three pointer before chipping away at the seven point Warrior lead. The Cowboys would, however, go scoreless in the last 2:34 and bring their record to 0-2.
“We had our chances,” said McNeese head coach Dave Simmons. “We missed two point blank lay ups that would have given us the lead and we just got tired against a big squad.”
As a team McNeese shot zero free throws during the contest compared to Hawaii’s 30 attempts, marking the first time in the tournaments history a team has gone without taking a single free throw.
“That’s no excuse,” said Simmons of the free throw differential. “We have to keep playing and trying to get to the line. We’ll get better in the paint and try to get to the free throw line a little more.”
The Cowboys put up a strong presence in the paint, outscoring their opponent 30 to 24 in that category and capitalizing on the play of big men Preston David and Will Morning. David would finish with six points while Morning had four of his own.
“Will is coming off of knee surgery and making progress,” added Simmons. “Preston, who didn’t do to well in the game last night, came in and had some quality minutes for us.”
McNeese was led by senior Diego Kapelan, who finished with 14 points and four three pointers. Regis and Patrick Richard had 10 points each with Richard coming down with 8 rebounds.
“As a team we definitely improved since our first outing,” said Simmons. “We didn’t have C.J. (Collins) but everybody else really stepped up for us.”
Collins, who had four points in the Cowboy’s season opener against Northern Colorado, sat out of the game after re-aggravating an ankle injury suffered earlier in the week.
The Cowboys have a 7:30 p.m. (11:30 p.m. Lake Charles time) game on slate for tomorrow night against Southern Utah. Both teams will be looking for their first win of the Rainbow Classic and the season.
Courtesy: McNeeseSports.com
