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Sunday night was the Sincere Parker show in the semifinals of the Paradise Jam. The junior for McNeese was nearly perfect on the night, pouring in 31 points—three shy of his career high—to lead the Cowboys past Longwood 84-69 in a matchup of two NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago.

Emanuel Richards, Johan Nziemi and Michael Christmas all had double figures for the Lancers (6-1), but Parker and a swarming McNeeseu (4-2) defense stymied every Lancer run in its tracks.

Christmas powered Longwood to a hot start, hitting two triples in the first eight minutes. His second triple also gave him 1,000 points in his collegiate career.

The Lancers used the surge and 3-5 shooting from three to jump out to 15-8 lead.

McNeese elevated the pressure and slowed down Longwood’s attack to rip off a 16-2 run over the next eight minutes. The Cowboys forced 11 Longwood miscues and took them the other direction for 18 points in the first half.

Christmas hit a jumper to stem the tide momentarily, but McNeese was in rhythm by that time and pushed the lead to double digits.

The Lancers trimmed it to single digits late in the half. Richards pulled Longwood within six with a three that cut the lead to 32-26, but McNeese pushed it back to nine at the break, 37-28.

 Lancers rally in second half

After halftime, Christmas drained a three, his third of the evening, but Parker stole the show from that point on. He used a variety of moves on his way to 27 of his 31 points in the final 20 minutes, and he was the answer every time Longwood started to make a run. He went 10-12 from the floor after halftime, and McNeese was 18-23 as a team in the same stretch.

Christian Shumate and Joe Charles has 12 points apiece for McNeese.

 Up next in Paradise Jam

The Lancers move to the third-place game and will take on the loser of Liberty and Kansas State on Monday at 5:30 p.m. (EST).