McN Press Conference | LU Press Conference

LAKE CHARLES, La. – Will Wade and the McNeese Cowboys are dancing again.

The top-seeded Cowboys defeated second-seeded Lamar in a rugged, physical battle by the score of 63-54 on Wednesday evening at the 2025 Jersey Mike's Southland Basketball Championships presented by Explore Louisiana. 

McNeese is the first repeat champion since Texas A&M-Corpus Christi accomplished the feat in 2022 and 2023. The Cowboys become the third straight number one seed to win the tournament title. 

Quadir Copeland scored 18 points with three steals, while Javohn Garcia added 10 points, three steals, and two blocks. DJ Richards added 10 points and five rebounds. 

The Cardinals were led by Alexis Marmolejos with 18 points and nine rebounds, while Andrew Holifield had 15 points and nine rebounds. Adam Hamilton scored 11 with eight boards and two blocks. 

Copeland got McNeese going eraly on with four straight points for the early lead before Richards and a Christian Shumate dunk extended the lead to 8-3.

McNeese continued their good start offensively, rushing to a 14-7 after a Sincere Parker jumper, but a 9-4 Lamar run, including five points from Marmolejos cut the deficit to 18-16. 

The two teams battled back and forth throughout the half before a quick 7-0 spurt pushed McNeese back ahead by nine at 31-22. Lamar responded by closing the half on an 8-2 run to close the gap to 33-30 at the break.

McNeese pushed the lead back to eight to start the second half, but the gritty Lamar squad continued to counter punches, as they cut the deficit back down to one at 38-37. 

McNeese was able to extend their lead back to six and kept the Cardinals out of arms' reach, maintaining a four- to six-point lead.

Leading 51-46 with 4:33 to play, Copeland came up with a steal and found Shumate on the runout, who threw down a ferocious slam to send the Legacy Center into a frenzy. McNeese would score the next five points at the free throw line to extend the lead to 58-46.

From there, the coronation began as McNeese captured back-to-back tournament titles for the first time in school history.

Garcia was named MVP of the Southland Championships, while Copeland earned a spot on the all-tournament team. Marmolejos and Hamilton secured a spot on the all-tournament team for Lamar, while Micah Thomas of Northwestern State was named to the team. 

Next up, McNeese will go dancing as they find out where they will head for the first round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Championships. TNT Sports and CBS Sports will present the 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Selection Show, featuring the exclusive live first-time announcement of the pairings for the 2025 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, on CBS – Sunday, March 16, at 6:00 PM, ET.