CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears closed out their home season on Wednesday night with a 73-60 loss to the UTSA Roadrunners on "Senior Night" in front of a season-high crowd of 2,637 at the Farris Center.
The Bears (8-20, 3-12) shot 35.9 percent from the field and and made just 7 of 28 from three-point range on their home court. UCA, carrying the momentum of a 64-63 victory over Southeastern Louisiana from last Saturday, jumped out to an early 9-2 lead but let the game get away late in the first half. The Roadrunners (17-13, 9-6) made 18 trips to the free-throw line in the first half and it allowed them to pull out to a 38-25 halftime lead.
The Bears made their first 3 three-pointers in the opening minutes of the game, but then went cold from the field. UCA finished the first half shooting just 28.1 percent (9 of 32), while UTSA shot 42.3 percent from the field and made 11 of 18 at the line.
The Roadrunners, the top three-point shooting team in the league, made back-to-back three-pointers late in the half and pushed their lead to a high of 16 points on a pair of free throws by Sei Paye with 1:45 to play. Senior Dewan Clayborn made UCA’s fifth three-pointer of the half to close the gap to 13 points at the break.
“I warned the team the other day in practice, that we’re going to start the game off strong,’ said UCA head coach Corliss Williamson. “It’s Senior Night and we’re going to have that momentum, that adrenalin early on in the game. I drew an arc on the board and I showed them what was going to happen. Eventually, once you hit that peak, it’s going to level out.
“I told them that’s where the game is going to be won, when it levels out. Are we going to be able to focus in, take good shots and fight through it. I don’t think we did that once the pregame stuff wore off for us.’
The Bears cut the margin to 11 points on a steal and dunk by LaQuentin Miles at the 14:40 mark of the second half but that was as close as they would get the rest of the way. UTSA’s lead reached as much as 19 points in the final three minutes as five players finished in double figures for the Roadrunners.
Sei Paye led all scorers with 15 points, while Jeromie Hill, Igor Nujic and Kannon Burrage all had 13 and Michael Hale added 10 for the Roadrunners. Hill added a game-high 11 rebounds as the Roadrunners out-rebounded the Bears 51-30.
Senior Mark Rutledge scored 10 points for the Bears in his final home game, while junior Jarvis Garner topped UCA with 12 points and senior Jeremy Nordman scored his first career points on a pair of technical free throws. Miles added 10 points and 4 steals for the Bears. Seniors Joe Harris, Dewan Clayborn, Chris Henson, Rutledge and Nordman were honored in a pregame senior ceremony.
The Bears close out the season on Saturday at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, with a tip-off time of 4 p.m. at the American Bank Center.
