CONWAY, Ark. _ The first-place Sam Houston State Bearkats used scoring balance, defense and rebounding to beat the University of Central Arkansas Bears 70-42 on Saturday afternoon in Southland Conference action at the Farris Center.

    SHSU (22-5, 13-1) had just one player score in double figures _ senior guard Jabari Peters with 14 _ but had 10 different players score. The Bearkats forced the Bears into 22 turnovers and scored 29 points off those miscues in avenging an 81-70 loss to UCA in last year's game in Conway. 

    UCA (1-23, 1-12) got 13 points from freshman guard Jordan Howard but the Bears shot just 33.3 percent from the field for the game, 25 percent (3 of 12) from three-point range and 53.8 percent (7 of 13) from the free-throw line. By contrast, the Bearkats were 20 of 32 from the line.
    
    "They were good and we were horrible,' said UCA head coach Russ Pennell. "There's no other way to put it. I thought we didn't come out with a look, we didn't come out to fight. And as I just told the team, that's not acceptable. 

    "We have to finish this thing out right. The record, throw it out the window. It doesn't matter. You have to learn to compete, and compete against the best. And I thought we came out with almost a defeatist attitude. With that being said, Sam Houston is a very good team. They did make life pretty miserable on us, especially the first half.'

    The Bearkats scored the game's first eight points and led 20-3 at the midway point of the first half before grabbing a 40-17 halftime lead. UCA shot just 28 percent in the opening half (7 of 25).

    "They (the Bearkats) did what we expected, but we didn't do what I expected,' said Pennell. "I'm not trying to take away from them because I think they are  a very quality team. They just played hard, played harder than us. We have some areas that are of concern to me, and being competitive on every night is one of them.

    "I know the reason why. We're losing and it's hard and the season is getting long and you want it to be over. Those are the natural tendencies. However, we have a job and it was to play 29 games this year. And we have five more. And I expect, this university expects, this community expects us to give a quality effort. And when we don't, that's not acceptable.'

    Freshman guard Boo Milligan finished with 9 points, while junior center Jake Zuilhof had 8 point, 7 rebounds and 2 steals. Junior guard Mike Martin, UCA's second-leading scorer entering the game, was held scoreless as only six player scored for the Bears.

    The Bears host McNeese State at 7 p.m. Tuesday and Southeastern Louisiana at 4 p.m. Saturday before finishing with three consecutive road games.