CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears made more free throws (21) than Southeastern Louisiana attempted (14) on Thursday night to grab an 85-71 victory in Southland Conference play at the Farris Center.

The Bears, who have struggled from the line all season, made 21 of 31 (67.7 percent) including 11 of 15 from senior guard LaQuentin Miles, who entered the game shooting 59.1 percent. Miles led the Bears with 21 points, while three other Bears finished in double figures. Senior guard DeShone McClure added 15 points, while sophomore forward Tirrell Brown had 13 and freshman guard DuShaun Rice scored 12.

UCA (6-15, 3-7) was trailing SLU as late as the 12:00 mark of the second half but found a way to win the game. Rice started the run with a three-pointer and Miles connected on eight consecutive free throws at one point to push the Bears out to a 15-point lead (74-59) on Miles' layup with 6:14 to play.  The Lions (9-12, 4-6)  fought back but could never get closer than eight points with 2:46 remaining.

The Bears got another free throw from Miles and a fastbreak dunk by McClure to push the lead back to 11 points at 81-70 with 2:30 to play.  After that, UCA made 1 of 2 at the line on four straight trips but had enough of a cushion to keep the lead at double digits.

"We started well with getting the ball to the basket,' said UCA head coach Clarence Finley. "We got into the bonus at a good time and we just kept trying to take the ball to the rack and made some free throws. We were making a lot of them there for awhile, but we ended up at 67 percent. But at least Southeastern took one of our poison pills and shot 50 percent from the line.

"But we made some front ends of one-and-one when we needed them and that made the difference.'

The Lions opened the game red-hot from the perimeter, with Dre Evans, a 5-foot-9 senior guard, scoring 11 of their first 13 points. He led Southeastern with 14 first-half points, hitting 4 of 5 from three-point range, as the Lions led by as much as eight points in the opening 20 minutes.

"They made some tough shots early,' said Finley. "A lot of shots they made, we were contesting them. He (Evans) shot a couple of them from North Little Rock. But we contested them and I didn't think they'd keep making them all night. They did make 10 of 24 but we did get some stops down the stretch when we needed them.'

UCA got 39 points from its bench and scored 36 points in the paint. Rice finished with 3 three-pointers and McClure hit 2. Sophomore Daouda Berete was 4 of 4 from the line, while McClure had a game-high 5 assists. The Bears finished with just 10 turnovers and offset that with 9 steals.

The Lions swept last year's two games, winning by four points in Hammond, La., and by one point at the Farris Center.

UCA continues its homestand on Saturday, hosting SLC newcomer New Orleans at 4 p.m..