CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears dug themselves a hole that was way too deep to climb out of Wednesday night at the Farris Center.
Nicholls State jumped ahead by 18 points in the first 11 minutes of the game and never slowed down in a 70-48 victory over the Bears. With the victory, the Colonels (13-11, 7-6) swept the season series and kept their postseason hopes alive with three games to play. UCA (5-21, 1-12) dropped its seventh straight game.
‘The old saying holds true, you practice like you play and you play like you practice,’ said UCA head coach Corliss Williamson. “It actually started yesterday in practice. We had no focus. We brought them in this morning and had a little bit better focus, but if you don’t prepare yourself a couple of days ahead of time, you’re in trouble. You can’t wait until game day to do that.
“And as a result, we got our tails kicked at home.’
The Colonels settled for a 32-18 halftime lead after shooting an even 50 percent from the field and outrebounding the Bears 20-8. Nicholls’ defensive pressure forced UCA into 8 turnovers and 33 percent shooting in the opening 20 minutes.
“You’d except their pressure to get to you on their home floor, when they have their fans there,’ said Williamson. “But you don’t expect anyone to come into your house and push you around. That’s not how you are supposed to defend your home turf. They pushed us out of our offense. We did a terrible job of setting screens, our shot selection wasn’t good. It made for a bad night overall.’
Nicholls, playing without their second leading scorer Fred Hunter, who is out with a knee injury, got a combined 32 points from guards Dantrell Thomas and Bryan Hammond. That pair, who made 15 of 19 shots from the field, entered the game averaging a combined 9.7 points per game. Senior forward Anatoly Bose, the leading scorer in the Southland Conference, did his part as well with 21 points and 14 rebounds.
“They broke us down off the dribble all night long,’ said Williamson. “When we were in man-to-man, they were able to get to the basket. The circle motion gave us problems. The zone, they were able to pick us apart. Everything we tried tonight defensively, we could not guard the basketball.’
UCA got 13 points from senior guard Imad Qahwash and nine points from junior forward Mark Rutledge. The Bears shot 34.8 percent from the field and finished with just 23 rebounds, tying their season low.
“I talked to our guys at halftime, Bose had six rebounds and we had to combine four players on our team just to add up to six rebounds.’ Williamson said. “That’s embarrassing for us as a coaching staff. We have to do a better job of teaching that and putting the emphasis on that. And then we have to get our guys to understand it.’
The Bears travel to Hammond, La., to take on Southeastern Louisiana at 3 p.m. Saturday.
