Balanced UCA Bears shut down Islanders in conference opener
CONWAY — Junior guard Thatch Unruh tied a career-high Thursday afternoon and the University of Central Arkansas Bears opened Southland Conference play with an 81-69 victory over the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders at the Farris Center.
UCA (7-7, 1-0) kept its perfect home record intact at 5-0 with Unruh scoring 20 points to lead three Bears in double figures. Senior Jordan Howard, the reigning Southland Conference Player of the Week, chipped in 18 points and fellow senior Mathieu Kamba added 13 points and 6 rebounds to help the Bears win their SLC opener for just the third time in 12 tries since joining the league for the 2006-07 season.
“I think Corpus Christi is one of those teams that I think their record is a little deceiving,” said UCA head coach Russ Pennell. “Even in their losses — they took Georgia to three points (in a 68-65 loss). Willis Wilson is one of the better coaches in this league. I’ve known him for years. I told our players, Corpus Christi had a lot of tradition and they have a lot of pride, and I knew this would be a grinder, but I thought our guys really responded. I thought we showed some grit, some toughness, answered every time something kind of went wrong for us. And that’s a formula for winning, and winning conference games.
“I told them, you win a conference game, that’s good, I don’t care how it’s done. As long as you get a chance to win. We challenged them before the game, ‘Do you want to be in first place when this day is over?’ Because 1-0 will have you in first place.”
The Bears enjoyed as much as a 16-point lead in the first half before settling for a 41-31 margin at the break. Howard and Kamba combined for 24 of UCA’s points as the Bears connected on 15 of 19, 78.9 percent, at the free-throw line.
Freshman center Hayden Koval, back in the starting lineup for the first time since Dec. 4, had four of his seven blocked shots in the opening half, tying the school single-game record for the second time this season. The 7-footer finished with nine points and six rebounds and was 2 of 3 from beyond the 3-point line.
“He is such a weapon on the defensive end,” Pennell said. “And I thought he got a couple of bad calls and probably should have had about eight or nine blocks. But nonetheless, his numbers are real steady, and I think they will only go up. He’s going to get better and better.”
The Islanders (3-8, 0-1) played without AllSLC guard Ehab Amin, who has missed the entire season after hip surgery, and never completely went away in the second half. They were within five points at 49-44 at the 14:34 mark and closed the gap to 10 points a couple of times down the stretch.
Senior Joseph Kilgore, the fourth-leading scorer in the conference, led the Islanders with
23 points, six points above his average. He made
3 of 4 from 3-point range and 8 of 9 from the free throw line. Freshman Sean Rhea added 16 points, hitting 8 of 10 free-throw attempts.
Howard, the second-leading scorer in the nation and coming off of a 35-point effort at Oregon last week, did not shoot particularly well but did a little bit of everything else. He finished with five rebounds, five assists and five steals.
Senior Ethan Lee added eight points and six rebounds, with most of that coming in the second half.
The Bears shot 46.4 percent overall from the field against one of the top defensive teams in the SLC. UCA’s defense forced 19 turnovers and the Bears recorded 18 points off of those miscues.
“The community really turned out,’ said Pennell. “I was really excited, and I think they were entertained with a pretty good basketball game. Home court is very important for us to build because if you’re going to win and have a chance to win your conference, you about have to hold serve at home. And if you lose at home, you can only lose about once. The old formula is kind of win all your home games and split on the road, and you’re always going to be in the hunt.
“So to this point, we’ve done a pretty good job of playing at home, and we get another chance on Sunday and hopefully we can do the same.”
The Bears continue their two-game homestand on Sunday afternoon when they host Southeastern Louisiana as part of a doubleheader with the Sugar Bears. The Bears and Lions will tip at approximately 3:15 at the Farris Center.