CHARLESTON, S.C. _ A poor-shooting first half was too much to overcome for the University of Central Arkansas Bears on Tuesday night in an 80-67 loss to the Charleston Southern Buccaneers at Buccaneer Fieldhouse.

    UCA shot just 25.9 percent from the field overall and turned the ball over 10 times, trailing 41-24 at the break. The Bears (0-5) put up a solid fight in the second half, however, shooting a season-high 61.9 percent overall, 50 percent (4 of 8) from three-point range and 72.2 percent (13 of 18) from the free-throw line. Freshman guard Jordan Howard scored 17 of his 18 points in the second half, including 3 of 4 from three-point range. 
    
    "I wish I could pinpoint why we're getting off to a slow start,' said UCA head coach Russ Pennell. "We've changed our lineup a couple of times. We're maybe as a staff, going to review what we're doing. I just thought early on, Charleston Southern played very desperate, and I mean that in a good way. They lost to Wright State here the other night and they have Florida State next on the road. They don't want to drop another home game here.

    "And we're just still a little too green to understand that. I told the guys that, in perspective, what I'm looking for is this. There will hopefully be a day when we go to Sam Houston State or Stephen F. Austin, somewhere with the conference championship on the line. How will we play that night? Hopefully we will play with a desperation. We're not at that point yet, I understand that, but we have to create that culture, and it's just not there yet.

    "On a positive note, I thought we took some information at halftime and we made some changes and it was reflective because we shot 62 percent from the field in the second half, But you can't dig a hole as deep as we're digging right now and expect to come back on the road. It's very difficult.'

    The Bears made just 7 of 27 (25.9 percent) from the field in the first half but battled evenly on the boards with 21 rebounds. For the game, UCA outrebounded CSU 36-34, led by freshman Boo Milligan with eight. UCA cut what was an 18-point lead down to just 12 points as junior forward Joel Feigler scored four consecutive points and freshman Milligan added a basket to make it 36-24 wtih 1:45 to play. But the Buccaneers got a pair of free throws and a three-pointer by Danny Upchurch that beat the buzzer and sent CSU to the locker room with a 41-24 lead.

    The shooting woes continued briefly in the second half before Howard and Milligan made consecutive three-pointers to get the Bears within 16 points, and a 5-0 UCA run kept it there. But CSU's Saah Nimley tossed in a three-pointer and the Bucs pulled away again.The Bears put together one more furious rally, outscoring the Bucs 14-3 over the final five minutes to get it down to 11 points.

    Behind Howard's 18 points, Mike Martin scored 16, Milligan had 12 and Joel Fiegler had 10 points, 5 rebounds and 3 blocked shots off the bench. CSU, which beat Ole Miss in Oxford, Miss., last week, got 27 points from guard Saah Nimley and was 11 of 31 from three-point range as a team.

    "Jordan can score the ball,' Pennell said. "A guy like Jordan is very, very hard to stop. You know, he got off to a slow start. But the thing I liked about what he did, though, he showed some maturity, he didn't hang his head. He kept coming after it. In the second half, he made some big plays.



    "Joel is better than he's been playing. I think going to the bench, it's actually taken a little bit of pressure off him. Hopefully we can keep getting that kind of production. You know, if he goes for 10 and 5 in 19 minutes every night, we'll be pretty happy with that.'

    The Bears return to action Saturday afternoon against UALR at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock, with a 3 p.m. tipoff.