McNeese and Lamar play for Southland Championship

By Canadian Press on March 12, 2025.

Lamar Cardinals (20-12, 15-6 Southland) vs. McNeese Cowboys (26-6, 20-1 Southland)

Lake Charles, Louisiana; Wednesday, 5 p.m. EDT

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Cowboys -13.5; over/under is 132.5

BOTTOM LINE: McNeese and Lamar play for the Southland Championship.

The Cowboys have gone 20-1 against Southland opponents, with a 6-5 record in non-conference play. McNeese averages 10.3 turnovers per game and is 21-3 when it has fewer turnovers than its opponents.

The Cardinals are 15-6 against Southland teams. Lamar is seventh in the Southland scoring 30.9 points per game in the paint led by Alexis Marmolejos averaging 6.4.

McNeese makes 48.1% of its shots from the field this season, which is 7.3 percentage points higher than Lamar has allowed to its opponents (40.8%). Lamar has shot at a 43.1% clip from the field this season, 2.5 percentage points greater than the 40.6% shooting opponents of McNeese have averaged.

The teams play each other for the third time this season. McNeese won the last matchup 68-66 on March 2. Sincere Parker scored 25 to help lead McNeese to the victory, and Ja’Sean Jackson scored 19 points for Lamar.

TOP PERFORMERS: DJ Richards is shooting 44.9% from beyond the arc with 2.6 made 3-pointers per game for the Cowboys, while averaging 10.1 points. Christian Shumate is shooting 71.6% and averaging 11.7 points over the past 10 games.

Adam Hamilton is averaging 9.4 points, seven rebounds and 1.6 blocks for the Cardinals. Marmolejos is averaging 13.1 points over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Cowboys: 10-0, averaging 78.4 points, 34.6 rebounds, 15.4 assists, 7.6 steals and 3.8 blocks per game while shooting 48.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 62.8 points per game.

Cardinals: 7-3, averaging 67.2 points, 33.8 rebounds, 13.7 assists, 7.4 steals and 5.3 blocks per game while shooting 42.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 63.2 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

The Associated Press