Feb. 8, 2006

McNeese State's Cowboys take to the road this week for back to back games at Texas-San Antonio and Texas State.

They will play at UTSA on Thursday and at Texas State on Saturday.

Both games will be carried live over radio station KAOK (1400 AM) with Bruce Merchant at mikeside.

McNeese moved into second place in the Southland Conference standings with a 76-72 victory over Lamar University last Saturday. The Cowboys are now 6-2 in league play and 11-8 overall. UTSA is 8-12 overall and 3-6 in the league. Texas State is 2-17 and 0-8.

UTSA bowed to Southeastern Louisiana (95-82) last Saturday while the Cowboys were beating Lamar. The Roadrunners hold an 18-14 edge in the series but McNeese produced a 78-74 victory over them early in the year in Lake Charles with John Ford scoring 18 points and Aldryan Wardell pulling 10 rebounds.

The meeting with Texas State, which dropped a 69-66 decision to Nicholls State last week, will be the one and only between the two teams this season.

Expected to join Ford in the Cowboy starting lineup on Thursday against UTSA are Dwight Boatner, J. T. Williams, Quentin Gonzales and Jarvis Bradley.

Williams leads the Cowboys in scoring with a 17.8 average and ranks third in the conference while Boatner has a 12.5 average. Ford is scoring at a 10.1 clip.

Gonzales had a double, double against Lamar and is averaging 6.8 points and a team high 6.8 rebounds and Bradley is pulling 4.6 rebounds and scoring at a 5.2 clip. He's also an 89 percent free throw shooter on the season and has missed only one free throw in conference play.

UTSA is led in scoring by Andre Owens who ranks second in the conference with a 17.9 mark.