McNeese State carried No. 3 seeded Sam Houston State all the way to the wire Thursday in the opening round of the Southland Conference basketball tournament before falling 64-62 in overtime.

The Cowboys had outplayed the Bearkats throughout regulation play and had been up by as many as 13 points in the first half. They also held as much as a seven point lead with seven minutes left in the game.

Sam Houston came from behind to tie the score at 25 all at the end of the first half and then tied the score at 50 all at the end of regulation. A pair of free throws by Jeremy Thomas sent the game into overtime.

In that extra period the Bearkats scored the first seven points before the Cowboys came back, outscoring Sam Houston 11-5 to pull within one at 62-61 with 11 seconds left. Thomas hit two more free throws to pull his team out 64-61 but McNeese had a chance to tie the score again with John Ford going to the free throw line with three shots and only one second left.

Ford, who scored a game high 21 points, hit the first free throw but then missed the next two.

The loss ended the Cowboy season at 13-16. They had entered the tournament as the No. 6 seed.

Joining Ford in leading the Cowboy attack in the game were John Pichon and Jarvis Bradley, both with double doubles. Pichon scored 13 points and pulled 14 rebounds while Bradley scored 12 points and had 10 rebounds.

The 12 points Bradley scored put him over 1,000 for his career with the Cowboys.

Ryan Bright led the Bearkats with 17 points and 15 rebounds.

Kleon Penn and P. J. Alawoya were other leaders for McNeese in the game. The 6-11 Penn scored only one point but pulled six rebounds and blocked six shots. Alawoya came off the bench for six points and six rebounds.

"We had our chances in regulation to win the game, we just didn't make the plays," Cowboy head coach Dave Simmons said. "I thought that we played very hard and I was very pleased with our effort. We came to win and we played our hearts out. We had our best shooter at the line in the end. But, there are no excuses. We just didn't get the job done."