KATY, Texas - Mike James scored 26 points, Devon Lamb added 12 and Lamar defeated McNeese State 70-49 in the Southland Conference tournament championship on Saturday, sending Pat Knight into the NCAA tournament for the first time as a head coach.

The Cardinals (23-11) have won six in a row since Knight ripped his seniors after a loss to Stephen F. Austin on Feb. 22, saying they were "stealing money by being on scholarship."

Lamar will return to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2000. And Pat Knight will take a giant step out of the formidable shadow of his father, Bob, the Hall of Fame coach who won three NCAA championships at Indiana.

Patrick Richard scored 16 points, but went 4 for 20 from the field for McNeese State (17-15).

Knight was calm and subdued as he watched the final four minutes from the bench. In the final 30 seconds, he went into the stands and embraced his wife, Amanda, then hugged all his assistants before the buzzer sounded.

Bob Knight, now a color commentator for ESPN, did not attend the game.

Video   Pat Knight rips his own team Feb. 24, 2012: Lamar basketball coach Pat Knight rants after his team's 62-52 loss to Stephen F. Austin. Knight gets hot and proceeds to air out dirty laundry about the the seniors on the team.

Pat Knight, in his first season, guided Lamar to its first 20-win campaign since 1988. The 23 victories are the most since the 1983-84 squad went 26-5.

He took the Lamar job after four disappointing seasons at Texas Tech, where he succeeded his father. Bob Knight retired in February 2008 with 902 victories, most of them coming at Indiana, where he coached Pat in the early 1990s.

Pat worked as an assistant under his father with the Hoosiers and then at Texas Tech from 2004-08. He went 50-61 in Lubbock, then talked about wanting to build his own legacy at Lamar, about 100 miles east of Houston.

The Cardinals will be heavy underdogs in the first round of the NCAA tournament, but it's a start.

Lamar took control of Saturday's game late in the first half, when the Cowboys went cold to fuel a 15-0 spurt.

McNeese went nearly seven minutes without a field goal until Richard sank a straight-on 3-pointer with 2:22 left in the half. Brandon Davis swished a 3 with 48 seconds to go before halftime, and Lamar led 33-21 at the break.

Richard, the Southland's leading scorer, went 3-for-11 from the field and coughed up three turnovers in the first half. McNeese went 9 for 30 from the field overall and was outrebounded 20-15.

The Cowboys started the second half by scoring on consecutive fast breaks. Lamar continued to smother Richard, but Cannon hit a mid-range shot and a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 35-30 just three minutes out of halftime.

James scored on a drive and swished a 3-pointer from the corner and Lamar extended the lead again. Osas Ebomwonyi, Lamar's 6-foot-11 center, blocked a shot that triggered another fast break and James' layup for a 44-35 Cardinals' lead.

Richard continued to misfire and shook his head in frustration after throwing an off-balance attempt off the backboard, to the left of the rim.

Ebomwonyi blocked six shots in the first 14 minutes of the second half, and James swished another 3 with 5:50 left to put Lamar up 55-39, its biggest lead to that point.

Ebomwonyi converted a three-point play with 4:47 left, and Knight pounded the floor with his fist - in celebration, not disgust. The Cardinals cruised to the finish, converting a couple of alley-oops to incite the thousands of red-clad fans who made the short drive to Katy, a Houston suburb.