CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears had virtually no perimeter attack Wednesday night and the Northwestern State Demons took advantage in taking a 79-68 Southland Conference victory at the Farris Center.

    The Bears (7-13, 2-6) made 10 three-pointers in the first meeting with the Demons this season, a 77-73 victory in Natchitoches, La., but finished 0 for 10 on Wednesday. The Demons (14-9, 6-2), in first place in the SLC East Division, shot 64.3 percent from the field in the second half to overcome an early deficit and win their fourth consecutive game.

    “I think we shot some shots that weren’t good,’ said UCA head coach Corliss Williamson. “Some of them were rushed, some of them were out of rhythm. We didn’t really move the ball well to get guys open for the three-point shots. You maybe make a shot or two and things turn around in the other direction. But tonight we really shot the ball poorly.’

    The last time the Bears failed to make a three-pointer was early in the 2001 season when they went 0 for 4 against Incarnate Word.
  
    The Demons made 7 of 16 (43.8 percent) from beyond the arc, led by Gary Stewart, who went 3 for 5.
  
    The Bears jumped out to an 11-2 lead before the Demons stormed back with a 26-8 scoring run to take a 28-19 lead with eight minutes left in the first half. After turnovers on its first two possessions of the game, Northwestern State made 11 of its first 13 field goal attempts (85 percent), including 4 of 6 from three-point range.

    UCA scored the final four points of the half on a layup by Chris Henson and a follow dunk by LaQuentin Miles that beat the buzzer, cutting the Bears’ deficit to 38-30 at the break. UCA shot a respectable 46.4 percent in the first half and Northwestern State cooled off to 55.2 percent and missed its last five three-point attempts.

    The Demons steadily pushed their lead to as much as 17 points at the midway point of the second half before the Bears rallied. UCA scored seven straight points, including a slam dunk by junior Robert Crawford. After a Demons basket, sophomore Jordan Harks scored six consecutive points inside to cut the margin to just six points at 63-57 with 6:15 remaining.

    The Bears kept it at six points until a Patrick Robinson dunk sparked the Demons on a 6-0 run that put the game away with 1:45 remaining.

    “We went through this early in the season where we’d get down, then try to find a way to get back into it,’ Williamson said. “You can’t do that. Northwestern is a good team, they’re first in our division. So you know they are well coached and you have to come out and be prepared to play basketball.

    “We have to stop this trend somehow. We have to be consistent with our effort and our execution.’

    Miles, a sophomore from Jacksonville, topped the Bears with 20 points, hitting 8 of 12 shots. Senior Mark Rutledge added 12 points, while junior Jarvis Garner had 9 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Shamir Davis and Gary Roberson scored 13 points each for Northwestern State, while William Mosley had 10 pionts and 5 blocked shots.

    “Northwestern State has been playing well as of late and I knew they would come in here with the attitude that they wanted to get that game back that they lost to us at their place,’ said Williamson. “They were physical from the start, they pressured us and took us out of our offense from the start. We were just never able to make the right adjustments.’

    UCA hosts West Division leader UT Arlington at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Farris Center.