CONWAY, Ark. _ A scoring drought to start the second half by the University of Central Arkansas Bears was enough to allow the Nicholls Colonels to grab a 71-61 victory on Saturday afternoon in Southland Conference play at the Farris Center.
    
    After settling for a 32-32 halftime tie, the Colonels outscored the Bears 14-5 in the opening six minutes of the second half and never trailed again. UCA, which managed the tie even while shooting 32 percent from the field, never found the range in the second half either, shooting 34 percent for the game, and just 3 of 17 (17.6 percent) from three-point range.

    The Bears (0-17, 0-6) survived their scoring lull and closed the gap to just three at 46-43 on Mathieu Kamba's layup with 11:56 to play. After Nicholls (5-11, 2-4) pushed the margin back out to as much as 11 points at the 8:15 mark, UCA came back one more time, with Boo Milligan closing the gap to 58-54 at the 4:34 mark.

    However, a dunk by Nicholls' Ja'Dante Frye started a 12-2 run by the Colonels that put the game away.

    "I'm really not worried about our shooting percentage,' said UCA head coach Russ Pennell. "It's our defense and we're just not good. It is what it is. We're very poor defensively. We have to figure out how to get better. We work on and we work on it, but we have to figure it out.'

    The Colonels shot 56.5 percent from the field in the second half and 54 percent for the game. Nicholls won despite going just 14 of 29 (48.3 percent) from the free throw line. The teams combined for 56 fouls and 69 free throws.

    Kamba, a freshman forward from Calgary, Alberta, came off the bench with his best game of the season, scoring 15 points and pulling down 10 rebounds for UCA's second double-double of the season. Kamba had 7 points and 8 rebounds and was 5 of 6 at the free-throw line at halftime.

    "We asked him before the game to really get on the glass,' Pennell said, "because he was going to play at lot at the 4 position. I thought the moment he went in the game, his energy was very good. Mathieu is starting to figure it out. I think we're getting a glimpse of what he can do. A couple of those rebounds, he looked like his head was above the rim.

    "And I think he's only going to get better with time. I was really happy to see him have the kind of effort that he had today.'

    Freshman guard Jordan Howard, who is battling a knee injury, led the Bears with 18 points, including a pair of three-pointers, while junior guard Mike Martin had 9 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals.

    UCA returns to the road for a Monday night contest at New Orleans. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at Lakefront Arena.