CONWAY, Ark. _ The defending Southland Conference champion Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks turned 34 University of Central Arkansas turnovers into 47 points Tuesday night in cruising to a 109-58 victory in Southland Connference play at the Farris Center.

    SFA (13-3, 3-0) grabbed a 58-30 lead at halftime after UCA turned the ball over 18 times in the opening 20 minutes. UCA (0-15, 0-4) shot a respectable 54.2 percent from the field for the game but the turnover differential was 34-10 for the game, resulting in the Bears' biggest loss of the season.

    "They played really well and we played really poorly,' said UCA head coach Russ Pennell. "And that combination is disastrous. I'm really disappointed in kind of, just our lack of fight. That bothers me more than anything else. We have to get that corrected.

    "Not everyone. I can't paint it with that broad of a brush. I thought a couple of guys competed. I thought Mike Martin really competed. We just have to understand, when we don't do things the way we're taught, the way we practice it, we're going to have 34 turnovers. And honestly, we were just a broken record at halftime and at time outs. Just saying the same thing over and over.

    "But, Stephen F. is the standard we're all trying to reach, and that's what I told Coach (Brad) Underwood.'

    UCA, which got 16 points each from junior guard Mike Martin and freshman guard Jordan Howard. Junior center Jake Zuilhof, UCA's third leading scorer entering the game, went scoreless and pulled down six rebounds. The Bears, the fourth-ranked three-point shooting team in the SLC, made just 1 of 10 against SFA's pressure defense, with freshman Thatch Unruh going 1 for 3 from beyond the arc.

    SFA, which advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament a year ago and finished 32-3 overall, got 20 points from junior Thomas Walkup and 19 from junior Demetrious Floyd off the bench. Jacob Parker, the reigning SLC Player of the Year, had 15 points, shooting 7 of 9. 

    The Lumberjacks shot 58.2 percent from the field, 47.1 percent from three-point range and 76.7 from the free throw line. SFA shot 30 free throws to UCA's 7 and outscored the Bears 62-36 in the paint.

    "That's a team that understands what it's going to take to get back where they were last year,' said Pennell of the Lumberjacks. "I've always felt this way every stop I've been, the first time you make the NCAA Tournament, your program is never the same. Because the kids then know what it takes to get there and what it's going to take to exceed what you did before.

    "Coach Underwood told me that's the best they've played in a long, long while. Now, we helped them. The only way you learn to play hard is to play teams like that. We'll go study that film, and what our guys are going to see is, we just got out-toughed. out-efforted. We got whipped in every way you can on a basketball court.'

    UCA returns to action after a five-day break with a road game at Houston Baptist at 7 p.m. Monday in Houston.