CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears shook up their starting lineup Tuesday night against the Troy Trojans and it resulted in a hard-fought 60-53 victory at the Farris Center.

The win broke a three-game losing streak and sent the Bears into the Thanksgiving break with a 2-3 overall record and some much-needed confidence.

"I thought we played defense very hard,' said UCA Coach Clarence Finley. "I thought we played on both ends of the court. I really thought we shared the basketball. We shot the ball very quickly against Louisiana Tech, and tried to clean it up, then we shot the ball very quick against Arkansas State.

"But we definitely shared the ball tonight. Two of the players we took out of the starting lineup had been shooting quick and gambling on defense. And those guys came on and played really well down the stretch tonight.'

UCA overcame 28.6-percent shooting in the first half by catching fire in the second half, hitting 53.8 percent from the field and making 6 of 9 from three-point range. The Bears, who trailed by as much as eight points early in the second half, began to find the range and force the Trojans (2-2) into turnovers.

Troy finished with 17 turnovers, with UCA cashing in 16 points off the miscues. UCA was coming off back-to-back games of 24 turnovers against Louisiana Tech and Arkansas State but had just 12 against the Trojans.

Troy's last lead of the game came with 8:36 to play. but the Bears outscored the Trojans 22-14 the rest of the way, with senior guard Ryan Williams starting it off with one of his three three-pointers. Freshman Phabian Glasco added a dunk and a free throw to give the Bears a 44-41 advantage with 7:01 to play.

Freshman Jalen Jackson nailed another three-pointer, his second of the game, with 2:37 left that gave UCA a 52-46 lead. Williams connected on two free throws, Jackson scored on a layup and Williams made two more at the line for a 58-51 lead with 22 seconds left. Jackson capped off UCA's scoring with a breakaway dunk in the final seconds.

Williams, in his first start of the season, led the Bears with 13 points, while Jackson and senior DeShone McClure added 12 each. Sophomore Daouda Berete had a game-high 9 rebounds and Jackson had a game-high 5 assists.

"Ryan is a very good point guard, but he's been sick for a couple of months,' said Finley. "We finally got a healthy Ryan, and you could see, he really ran the team well. The thing about Ryan, he's been through the tough games like this before. He played a lot for us as a freshman.

"I brought him in the office the other day and told him, this is going to have to be his team down the stretch. I told him he has to get healthy and he has to play. He's going to have to be our point guard.'

Antoine Myers scored 12 points for the Trojans while Kevin Thomas added 11. Troy shot 37.8 percent overall and just 29.4 percent (5 of 17) from three-point range.

UCA heads to Manhattan, Kan., on Sunday to take on the Kansas State Wildcats. Game time is 3 p.m. on Fox Sports Midwest.