NATCHITOCHES -- This is Lance Potier’s role, to do whatever is asked of him. Labeling him a guard or a forward is difficult and part of Dave Simmons’ proclivity to turn to his versatile senior in any situation.
Saturday’s Southland Conference opener necessitated Potier play larger than his 6-foot-6 frame. LaBarrius Hill had fouled out and there were few other frontcourt options to which Simmons could turn when the game against Northwestern State went to overtime.
Potier, who finished with nine points, scored six of McNeese State’s 13 points in the extra frame, adding two massive defensive rebounds to propel the Cowboys in a 79-72 win to open conference play.
“It was just my time to step up,” Potier said. “The coaches are always looking for me to play defense, I took a lot of charges today, so I was just there to rebound, play defense and have offense at the end. That was big.”
Without Hill and Jamaya Burr, both of whom fouled out in the final six minutes of regulation, McNeese relied on its undersized, four-guard lineup to finish the proceedings. Jarren Greenwood, who came off the bench for the first time all season, ran the point and Potier slid to the four.
After Josh Boyd pulled Northwestern within one on a layup, Greenwood found a cutting Potier an up-and-under layup that came after a snazzy shoulder fake through contact. He missed the free throw, though, keeping it a one-possession game.
Potier grabbed a defensive rebound on the Demons’ next possession — limiting them to a one-and-done trip — before scoring again off a Greenwood feed to stretch the lead to five. Northwestern State got no closer than three.
“Lance is so big for us,” forward Stephen Ugochukwu said. “He does a little bit of everything, he defends, he rebounds and he scored when we needed it. A really big help to us.”
Ugochukwu played 41 of the game’s 45 minutes, scoring 19 points and grabbing nine boards. Greenwood chipped in 13 while Burr and James Harvey added 10 apiece.
Exploiting the minimal size advantage McNeese possessed — only one of Northwestern State’s five starters stood taller than 6 foot 5 — Ugochukwu scored 11 of his team’s first 13 points while pacing the rebounding assault Simmons hoped would materialize once the Cowboys departed their rigorous nonconference schedule.
“We were running our sets, moving around the ball pretty well,” Ugochukwu said. “When they stepped up the defense and pressed, we kind of got rattled a little bit.”
Playing a wounded Demons team without its do-it-all scorer Zeek Woodley, McNeese had as big as a 15-point lead in a first half where it shot 42 percent and out-rebounded the Demons 25-15.
Ledoux banked in a runner to get that 15-point lead with 5:48 remaining in the half. McNeese made two more shots for the first half’s duration, though somehow maintained a 10-point halftime lead after Northwestern utilized a 1-2-2 press that stymied the Cowboys.
“Those are nice kids, but we’ve got to have some killer instinct,” Simmons said. “We could have put Northwestern away early and we didn’t. That’s the one thing, but give them credit. Defensively, they stalled us and made some adjustments and kind of hurt us.”
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