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LAKE CHARLES, La. _ Now that the University of Central Arkansas Bears have secured their spot in the Southland Conference Basketball Tournament, their attention turns to shooting for a better seed in their remaining two regular-season games.
UCA (11-16, 5-11) is in eighth place in the SLC standings, with the top eight teams earning tournament berths. The Bears play at seventh-place McNeese State at 3 p.m. Saturday before returning home for their regular season finale on March 8 against third-place Oral Roberts.
UCA grabbed its first tournament bid with a hard-fought, double-overtime win over Lamar on Thursday in Beaumont. Senior guard Robert Crawford paced the Bears with 30 points, hitting 7 of 9 from three-point range before fouling out in the first overtime. Junior guard LaQuentin Miles then nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into a second extra period, which UCA dominated to get the 106-99 win.
The Bears made 11 three-pointers against Lamar, the seventh time they have made at least 10 this season and the 12th time with at least eight. UCA leads the league with 7.2 threes made per game. Crawford is first in three-pointers made (3.0 per game) and three-point percentage (43.5).
McNeese (12-14, 6-9) is coming off a 56-54 upset of Oral Roberts on Thursday in Lake Charles. The Golden Eagles easily won the first meeting 75-54 in Tulsa.
UCA beat McNeese 103-98 in triple overtime back on Jan. 24, only the second triple overtime game in UCA history. Senior Jarvis Garner tied his career highs with 38 points and 15 rebounds. Garner hit a three-pointer from 30 feet to send the game to overtime, then connected from a few steps closer to send it to a second extra period.
Miles had 25 points and a career-high 10 assists for UCA, while senior center Anthony Borden addded 14 points and 8 rebounds. Ledrick Eackles scored 26 points for McNeese State, while Desharick Guidry had 20 and Jeremie Mitchell 13.