UCA holds on, breaks streak
CONWAY — Central Arkansas tasted victory for the first time this season Saturday afternoon, taking down the New Orleans Privateers 70-67 at the Farris Center in Conway.
The Bears, who never trailed, broke a 19-game losing streak to start the season by holding the Privateers to 36 percent shooting and withstanding a late UNO rally that wiped out a 16-point lead with two minutes to play.
UCA got two free throws from freshman Mathieu Kamba, followed by a Kamba block. Freshman guard Jordan Howard then made 1 of 2 free throws to give the Bears the victory.
“I told the guys, we have the longest winning streak of the year,” UCA Coach Russ Pennell said. “I’m just really happy for these guys. When we first went into the locker room, I went straight to my office and just kind of stood back there and listened. Just the joy that was coming out of that locker room, you’d have thought we won the national championship.
“And you know what, that’s the way you ought to celebrate. Sometimes we don’t celebrate enough. And certainly this year, the [victories] haven’t been coming. I want them to enjoy it today because they deserve it. They need to bask in their hard work because I’m really proud of them.”
The Bears (1-19, 1-8), who lost to the Privateers by 20 points in New Orleans, had three players score 10 or more points, led by Howard with 20 points. Junior guard Mike Martin added 15 points and junior center Jake Zuilhof overcame foul trouble to finish with 14 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.
The Bears took their biggest lead of the season, 18 points, at the 4:00 mark of the first half, settling for a 36-24 margin at the half. After hitting 13 three-pointers in Tuesday’s 110-108 loss to Northwestern State, the Bears did not hit their first three-pointer until the 16:50 mark of the second half. UCA then hit two to push its lead to 15 points. UCA was 4 of 7 from three-point range in the final 20 minutes.
But the Privateers (6-13, 2-8) fought back with repeated drives to the basket. Kevin Brown’s two free throws tied the game at 67-67 with 1:57 left.
The victory was a long time coming for a team that featured only one returnee from last year’s squad, along with a new coaching staff.
“It felt even better that I thought it would,” Zuilhof said. “I’ve almost forgotten what it felt like. It’s always been a struggle this year, but luckily we finally broke through. We knew it was going to happen someday, and we knew we had the right guys here. It finally game together for us.”