All Will Wade wanted against No. 2 Alabama Monday night was a puncher's chance.
The McNeese State head coach got his wish.
Not once but twice the Cowboys took 3-point shots in the final five minutes in an attempt to cut the Crimson Tide lead to three, but those jumpers didn't go in.
Thus, there would be no shocking upset in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
The Tide, a 20.5-point favorite, held on for a 72-64 win after McNeese cut a 21-point second-half lead down to four with 3:47 remaining on Sincere Parker's 3-pointer. However, the Cowboys would get no closer.
Bama improved to 3-0 with the win while McNeese fell to 1-2.
Parker led a wild McNeese rally in the second half that saw the Cowboys go on a 14-1 run at one point, holding the Tide without a basket for over eight minutes. Parker, a transfer from St. Louis, finished with 19 points, 17 coming after the break.
Parker scored seven points during a 9-0 McNeese run that made it 57-45 with 12:22 to play. After a pair of Bama free throws, DJ Richards hit a three, and Christian Shumate flushed a rebound dunk to cut the Tide's lead to 58-50 with 9:03 left.
McNeese continued to whittle the Bama lead down until the Parker three with just under four minutes set the stage for the final few moments.
That's when Alabama big man Grant Nelson scored the final four of his game-high 22 points to end any upset dreams.
"It was a great experience for our kids, great exposure for our school and our program, I'm more pleased about that," said McNeese head coach Will Wade. "They are a phenomenal team and this is a tough, tough building to play in.
"We competed hard. We just had a stint in the first half and in the second half where our offense went flat and you can't have that against a great team."
Wade made sure to point out that his team made real progress from its first two games.
"Way more positives than negatives," Wade said.
Parker ended the night 7-of-16 from the floor and 3-of-7 from distance. Alyn Breed added 17 points while Shumate tossed in 10 for McNeese.
Nelson, who had 16 points in the first half, was helped by Mark Sears, who added 15 for the Tide. Latrell Wrightsell also had 15 points, all on 3-pointers.
"They hit some big threes, deep threes, out from Greensboro, Alabama on the map," Wade said.
He did not give an exact distance from the arena to Greensboro, however.
The 6-foot-11, 230-pound Nelson had eight rebounds for Bama while McNeese's Joe Charles pulled down nine to top all players.
"He is a dynamic player," Wade said of Nelson. "He appears to have gotten a lot better over the offseason."
Nelson, who was averaging just seven points heading into the game, dominated the opening 20 minutes. He led a 15-2 run midway through the first half when the Tide (3-0) took control.
After Parker's layup gave McNeese a 14-10 lead seven minutes into the game, Nelson scored eight points, including nailing a pair of 3-pointers. When Javhon Garcia broke the streak with a pair of free throws, it was Nelson's dunk that started a new one.
That gave the Tide a 27-18 lead.
During that span, McNeese missed 10 of 11 shots from the floor after hitting five of their first seven. Mark Sears' layup beat the buzzer to give Bama a 41-30 lead at the half.
"This is motivating as a team to see how many mistakes we can fix during the game and we still came within eight," said Parker. "We just have to go back and fix the little things."
McNeese managed to hold the Tide to just 39 percent (9-of-23) in the second half after the Tide hit 48% in the first half. The smaller Cowboys also only lost the rebounding battle by one, 36-35. Alabama started three guys on their front line all 6-11 while McNeese's tallest player is 6-9.
"We really competed well on the glass," said Wade. "Joe Charles, Christian and Bryant Selebangue battled."
This was the second time in program history the Cowboys played the No. 2 team in the country. They opened the 2013-14 season against No. 2 Michigan State, falling 98-56.
"We are appreciative Alabama would play us," said Wade. "We had a hard time getting games. We are going to get better from this. Hopefully, this is something we can build on."
McNeese will take the rest of the week off before returning home next Monday night (Nov. 18) when mid-major North Texas comes to town.