CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears survived a run by the Southeast Missouri Redhawks on Monday night, then put together an even bigger one of their own and cruised to an 88-72 victory at the Farris Center.

    The victory was the fourth in a row for for the Bears (4-3), their first four-game winning streak since 2009, and their third consecutive win over a team from the Ohio Valley Conference. SEMO, which beat Southland Conference member Southeastern Louisiana in overtime on Saturday, dropped to 4-5 overall.

    “We knew they were going to make a run and we just had to withstand it,’ said UCA head coach Corliss Williamson. “We were able to change our defense up. We really didn’t do any trapping in the first half, but once we got down by a point, we felt like we had to make some changes on defense.

    “We were able to get some traps and change the momentum of the game. And our guys responded and picked it up from there.’
    
    Using an harrassing pressure defense, the Bears jumped out to a 13-point lead at the 6:35 mark of the first half on a rebound putback by sophomore forward Jordan Harks. The Bears forced 12 first-half turnovers and scored 16 points off of them, including dunks by LaQuentin Miles and Terry Tidwell.

    But the Redhawks, coached by former Arkansas State coach Dickie Nutt, grabbed the momentum early in the second half. The Bears, who had only four turnovers in the first half, doubled that in the first 3:30 of the second half as the Redhawks ran off an 11-0 run to take their first lead of the game. Tyler Stone’s three-point play gave SEMO a 44-43 lead with 17:25 remaining. The Redhawks shot seven free throws, the same number they attempted in the first half, in the opening four minutes of the second half.

    UCA weathered that run by SEMO and started a game-winning one of its own. A three-pointer from the corner by senior Chris Henson and a dunk by Jarvis Garner gave the Bears a 51-47 lead with 14:37 to play. The run quickly became a 20-3 surge by the Bears, with Henson and Dewan Clayborn hitting consecutive three-pointers and Robert Crawford hitting a jumper from the corner for a 62-50 lead with 11:07 remaining.

    Miles hit a running jumper and Crawford and Dewan Clayborn combined for three free throws to finish off the run and give the Bears a 67-52 lead with 8:50 on the clock. SEMO’s Tyler Stone, who had a game-high 30 points, scored eight straight for the Redhawks to cut the margin to 67-60 with 7:00 remaining but the Bears held them off for the victory.

    Stone and Leon Powell combined for 56 points and made 23 of 34 from the field for the Redhawks. Powell pulled down a game-high 19 rebounds, after entering the game averaging 5.6 per game.

    “Early in the year it was looking a little scary for us,’ said Williamson. “But our guys are really buying into what we’re trying to accomplish. They’re taking pride in trying to come out and show our fans and our students how we want to play. I’m just proud of the effort we had to withstand the run and find a way to win.’

    Miles and Garner led the Bears with 16 points each, with Garner hitting 7 of 10 from the field and adding 10 rebounds. Harks added 11 points and 5 rebounds off the bench, and senior forward Chris Henson, playing for the first time since he suffered a concussion in the season opener against Stanford, had eight points. He made 2 of 2 from three-point range, both coming during the decisive run.

    Robert Crawford added nine points and Dewan Clayborn had 8. UCA made only 26 of 45 from the free-throw line (57.8 percent) but outrebounded SEMO 42-34.

    “That’s one of the good things about the guys we have on this team,’ said Williamson. “We have a lot of guys who are interchangeable, very versatile in the positions they can play. We definitely tried to utilize some of our other guys tonight. Jarvis Garner did a good job tonight scoring the ball, and LaQuentin Miles, and Jordan came off the bench and gave us a spark as well.

    “And it was really good to get Chris Henson back out there. He definitely gave us a lift.’

    The Bears host Henderson State at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Farris Center, where they are 3-1 this season.