Bearkats come from behind to upend UCA

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — The University of Central Arkansas Bears had a hot start to the second half, but they could not sustain it Wednesday night in an 82-76 loss to the Sam Houston State Bearkats in Southland Conference play at Johnson Coliseum.

The Bears (7-9, 1-2) opened the second half with a 9-0 run to extend their 39-36 halftime lead to 48-36 in the first five minutes, but the Bearkats (7-8,

1-1) responded by outscoring the Bears 17-3 over the next 2:50 and regained the lead for good on Marcus Harris’ third consecutive three-pointer with 12 minutes to play. Harris led SHSU with 15 points along with Jamal Williams, who shot 4-for-6 from

3-point range.

UCA cut it to one point on freshman Matthew Mondesir’s layup at the 8:37 mark and was within two points twice more before the Bearkats held on for the victory, their first in SLC play. UCA lost its second consecutive league game after opening with a victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi last Thursday.

“It was kind of the opposite of the Southeastern (Louisiana) game (last Sunday),” said UCA head coach Russ Pennell. “I thought our offense was pretty good and our defense was lousy. We kind of got out of sync a little bit, and no excuses, but we didn’t play (freshman center) Hayden (Koval), trying to rest that ankle. Then, Ethan Lee hurt his thumb pretty badly, and then Tanner (Schmit) rolled his ankle. So, all of a sudden your bigs are either not playing or limping up and down the floor, and that hurt us a little bit.

“And we just take some ill-advised shots, and I don’t quite understand it. We pass the ball extremely well and then instead of sharing the ball, we’re taking some hard shots. That was, I thought, the tale of the game, and down the stretch I thought they kind of outtoughed us.”

The Bears put together two big scoring runs in the first half and eventually settled for a 3936 halftime lead. Leading 12-11 with 15:10 left, the Bears got a three-pointer from sophomore Aaron Weidenaar and a steal and layup by freshman DeAndre Jones to spark a 9-0 spurt that gave UCA a 21-11 lead, their largest of the half, at the 11:20 mark.

SHSU answered that run with a 7-1 run that got the Bearkats back in it midway through the half. After SHSU cut the UCA lead to 30-29 with 4:40 to play, UCA went on another scoring run, this one a 9-2 stretch, starting with a steal by senior Mathieu Kamba and layup from senior Jordan Howard.

Kamba added a 3-pointer for his first basket of the game, then Howard made a jumper and junior Tanner Schmit put in a rebound basket to give the Bears a 39-31 lead heading into the final 1:30. SHSU’s Abrian Edwards made a 3-pointer and Jamal Williams had a putback to make it 39-36 with 25 seconds left. UCA played for one shot but missed at the buzzer.

The Bears shot 40 percent overall and made 4 of 10 from distance in the opening 20 minutes, with Howard scoring 13 and Schmit 8. Howard finished with 25 points, becoming just the second UCA Bear to top the

2,000-point mark for his career. He now has 2,023 points, trailing school record-holder Clifton Bush by 134 points.

Kamba and Schmit finished with 11 points each, while junior Thatch Unruh had his first career double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds, also adding a game-high six assists. Lee, a senior, had five points, four rebounds and two steals before leaving in the second half with a thumb injury.

“One of the things I expected in the preseason is not coming to fruition right now,” said Pennell. “I thought we’d be a little bit better of an inside scoring team. (Freshman) Hayden (Koval) hasn’t really developed that part yet, and (freshman) SK (Shittu) not being with us has hurt us a little bit. So I think we are really relying on the jump shot way too much. I think we’re going to have to start driving the ball to the goal a little bit more.”

“I thought he left it all on the court and played hard,” Pennell added of Unruh. “Thatch is steady; you know what you’re going to get from him. He’s going to give his best every night out, and I was proud of his effort.”

UCA shot 40.3 percent overall and 27.3 percent, 6 of 22, from

3-point range, but it was just 2 of 12 from beyond the arc in the second half. The Bears were

20-for-25 at the free-throw line, but they were outscored 39-14 off the bench and 18-10 on second-chance points as the Bearkats pulled down 15 offensive rebounds.

The Bears continue their road trip at Lamar on Saturday afternoon. Tip-off is set for 4:30 p.m. at the Montagne Center in Beaumont, Texas.