JONESBORO, Ark. _ A scoring burst early in the second half carried the Arkansas State Red Wolves to a 77-67 victory over the University of Central Arkansas Bears on Tuesday night in front of a crowd of 1,040 at the Convocation Center.

    The Bears led the Red Wolves 31-30 at halftime, but ASU outscored UCA 17-7 to start the second half and pulled out to as much as a 16-point lead. UCA got the foul line late and cut the deficit to nine points with a minute to play but could get no closer.

    "We came out in the second half and they hit us with a little run,' said UCA head coach Russ Pennell. "And we weren't really able to overcome it. Again, we're just doing some things that are shooting ourselves in the foot. I think the thing that is bothering me the most is our low number of assists. We're just not sharing the ball like we were earlier. 

    "We have to get back to that. I don't know what the problem is. I don't think we have selfish kids, but they certainly look like they are missing open people. You can't have seven assists and 14 turnovers. The 14 turnovers is not horrible, but your assists need to be up around 16 or 17.'

    The Bears struggled from the field throughout the night, shooting just 31.8 percent overall and 28.6 percent (6 of 21) from beyond the three-point line. The Red Wolves (4-7) improved from 33.3 percent in the first half to 58.3 percent in the second and it led to a 47-36 differential in points.

    "I thought we were tentative in the second half,' said Pennell. "I thought in the first half we were in attack mode, and that's what we wanted to do, to put pressure on them at the rim. But the problem was, I thought we took some hard shots instead of kicking the ball out for easier shots. In the second half, we were moving the ball but it was just side to side, nothing at the basket.

    "Then toward the end, we kind of got going again. We're getting closer, but we're still a ways off.'

    The Bears (1-9) grabbed their first halftime lead of the season with aggressive play on both ends of the court, which helped overcome cold shooting. UCA, which opened up a 4-0 lead to start the game, fell behind five minutes into the game but never trailed again before halftime. Senior forward Justin Foreman scored six consecutive points to give the Bears their biggest lead of the half at 25-16 with 8:10 to play.

    ASU scored the next eight points to close within 25-24 with 6:00 to play, but UCA answered with a pair of free throws by Jeff Lowery and a layup by Mike Martin to regain a 29-24 advantage with 3:40 to play. Four straight by the Red Wolves made it a one-point game at 29-28 before Foreman made a pair of free throws for a 31-28 lead.

    Charles Waters made two free throws with 1.7 left to get the Red Wolves within 31-30 at halftime. UCA was 9 of 11 at the free-throw line (81.8 percent), while ASU made just 8 of 17 (47.1).

    "I think honestly the game got away from us in the first half,' said Pennell. "The reason I say that is, we missed six layups, and that's 12 points. And that's 12 points that you can't get back. And they weren't really contested layups either. 

    "And that was disappointing. We really should have gotten to halftime with somewhere around an 8- to 10-point lead.' 

    Foreman made 9 of 11 free throws and led the Bears with 17 points, while Howard added 14 points and Lowery 10. ASU got 22 points from center Anthony Livingston to lead four players in double figures for the Red Wolves. Donte Thomas added 14 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

    UCA has an extended holiday break before returning to the Farris Center on Jan. 2 to open Southland Conference play against Abilene Christian in a doubleheader with the Sugar Bears.