Daily Skiff

Just like he's been doing all year, Kevin Langford provided leadership when his team needed it the most.

The Horned Frogs' scoring and rebounding leader on the season scored a game-high 22 points, including seven straight down the stretch for the Horned Frogs, as TCU withstood a furious second-half rally to defeat McNeese State, 68-64.

TCU had struggled with its field goal shooting all season long, but the home rims proved to be much kinder to the Horned Frogs in the first half Saturday night.

After scoring two points in the first four minutes, the Horned Frogs found their touch and tightened up their defense, going on a 20-5 run over the course of the next seven minutes. TCU shot 54 percent from the field in the opening half and built a 39-23 lead going into halftime. The game seemed to be in hand for TCU.

However, the Horned Frogs went ice cold from the field in the second half, shooting just 28 percent which allowed McNeese State to crawl back into the contest. In addition, the Cowboys' full-court defense flustered the Horned Frogs and forced eight TCU turnovers in the second half.

"We came in the locker room and we did what young teams do. We didn't play as focused or as intense in the second half and it showed," head coach Jim Christian said about his team's second-half deficiencies.

The Cowboys, led by forward P.J. Alawoya's 21 points and 15 rebounds, cut the TCU lead to three at 56-53 with just under four minutes remaining.

That's where Langford stepped his game up. The Horned Frogs' leading scorer nailed a three-pointer as the shot clock expired to double TCU's lead, 59-53.

After a pair of free throws by McNeese State, Langford used his brute strength to power through a foul for a lay-up to make the score 61-55. The Cowboys scored four straight points to make it a one-possession game before Langford sank two free throws to put the Horned Frogs up by four with 45 seconds left.

Langford's performance earned Christian's praise, but the coach said he would like to see more of Langford's teammates step up.

"Kevin's a good player, but it's a basketball team thing," Christian said. "I don't care about individual performances."

The Cowboys made one last attempt at a comeback with just seconds remaining. Down 65-61, McNeese forward John Pichon made the first of his two free throws but missed the second. Fortunately for the Cowboys, their leading scorer Alawoya was there to scoop up the rebound and make an easy layup to cut the lead to a single point.

Ultimately, though, it was too little, too late for McNeese State. Horned Frog junior guard Edvinas Ruzgas gathered in a miss by junior forward Zvonko Buljan and made a layup while being fouled with just 1.8 seconds on the clock. Ruzgas' made free throw put the game out of reach at 68-64.

Despite winning, Christian said there's still a lot his team needs to improve on.

"We've got to learn how to play to win, not play not to lose," Christian said. "We played not to lose the game."

The Frogs will host crosstown-rival SMU on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

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