CONWAY, Ark. _ A nearly seven-minute scoring drought in the second half cost the University of Central Arkansas Bears on Saturday in a 71-56 loss to the McNeese State Cowboys in Southland Conference action at the Farris Center.
The Bears (7-16, 2-9) held a 39-38 lead with 15:11 remaining in the game, but did not score again for 6:56. The Cowboys, in first place in the SLC East Division, took advantage with a 22-0 scoring run to run out to a 60-40 lead with 8:15 left to play. UCA fought back behind the play of sophomore forward Jordan Harks but never got closer than 11 points the rest of the way.
The Cowboys (12-10, l8-2), who won their fifth straight game, got 22 points from the league’s leading scorer Patrick Richard, including 16 in the decisive second half. McNeese made 24 of 27 free throws (88.9 percent), including 15 of 17 in the second half.
“We just got passive against their zone,’ said UCA head coach Corliss Williamson. “We started turning the basketball over and you can’t do that against a team like that. And we didn’t really have that much pressure. They just put us on our heels and they turned those turnovers into points.’
UCA had six of its 17 turnovers during McNeese’s scoring run. Harks, a sophomore from Lombard, Ill., finally broke the drought for UCA with a layup with 7:40 remaining. A free throw by Jarvis Garner got the Bears within 11 points at 62-51 but the Cowboys answered with a dunk by Daniel Richard.
After Robert Crawford made it an 11-point deficit again for UCA, Desharick Guidry had a three-point play and Kevin Hardy added a dunk for a 69-53 lead. UCA never
The Bears, who had started slowly in their past two games, led 15-4 on Saturday before the Cowboys got back in it and tied the game at 25-25 with 3:47 left in the half. Harks had a three-point play for the Bears with 1:14 to play but the Cowboys got two free throws from Adrian Fields at the 55-second mark to take a 32-31 halftime lead.
“Everything was going well in the first half but we let them get back into it before halftime,’ said Williamson. “But we still felt confident coming out in the second half, that we could pick up where we left off. But unfortunately we let it get away from us there in that four or five-minute stretch.’
Harks topped the Bears with 12 points, while junior Jarvis Garner had 8 points and 15 rebounds, tying the career high he set on Wednesday at Texas State. Richard had 22 points and 10 rebounds for the Cowboys, while Guidry added 11 points and 14 rebounds and Hardy scored 11.
The Bears,in the midst of a seven-game losing streak, hit the road for three consecutive games, beginning Wednesday night at Sam Houston State. Tipoff is 7 p.m. at Johnson Coliseum.
