CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears had five players in double figures and made just enough of their free-throw attempts to hold off the UT Martin Skyhawks 87-86 on Wednesday night at the Farris Center.
UCA (3-3), which made only 17 of 33 from the free-throw line (51.5 percent), connected four times in the final 26 seconds to seal the victory. The Bears needed all of them as UTM’s Dee Oldham nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer to set the one-point final.
The home team won for the first time in the past six meetings between the teams, with junior guard Ryan Williams scoring a career-high 20 points for the Bears. He was joined in double figures by junior LaQuentin Miles with 16 points, while junior Jordan Harks scored 15 and grabbed 9 rebounds. Senior Robert Crawford was 3 for 5 from three-point range and had 14 points, while junior guard DeShone McClure scored 12 points.
“A lot of really good athletes on that floor tonight,’ said UCA head coach Corliss Williamson. “They (UTM) took pride in coming in here and trying to get a win. There were a couple of guys that we recruited or were from this area, so there were a lot of things going on on the court that the average fan didn’t know about.
“But we did what we needed to do to get the win.’
The game featured up-tempo basketball from both sides and that made it a close, entertaining game. UCA was better from the perimeter, making 10 of 25 from three-point range, with Williams going 4 for 6. The Skyhawks won the battle of the board 42-30, with Tobias Dowdell finishing with 13 points and 13 rebounds for UTM.
Neither team led by more than six points in a furious first-half that saw the Bears take a 38-36 lead to the locker room on a Miles slam dunk at the buzzer. UCA carried that momentum into the second half, pushing its margin to 14 points twice at the 13:18 and 12:34 marks. But UTM got back in it and closed the gap to just one at 74-73 when Mike Liabo made a pair of free throws with 5:27 to play.
But the Bears, who won in the final seconds at Eastern Illinois in their last outing, found a way to win late again. McClure turned a Miles steal into a dunk for an 83-75 lead with 1:54 to play. Miles Taylor from Little Rock Hall made a jumper and then a dunk to keep the Skyhawks within striking distance. Oldham’s three-pointer made it a three-point game at 86-83 with eight seconds remaining.
Miles then made 1 of 2 at the line to give the Bears the cushion they needed.
“I felt confidence in our team, especially coming down there at the end,’ said Williamson. “We had been in three tough games before this one so I felt like we’d be able to win it, but you don’t like playing games like this. You want to have that instinct that when you have a team down 14 points, you find a way to put them away. We don’t necessarily have that yet.’
UCA returns to the road on Saturday at Southeast Missouri. Tipoff is 5:30 p.m. in Cape Girardeau, Mo.
