CONWAY, Ark. _  The University of Central Arkansas' best sustained effort of the season came up just short Tuesday night in an entertaining 110-108 loss to the Northwestern State Demons in Southland Conference action at the Farris Center.

    UCA (0-19, 0-8) had five players in double figures, led by freshman guard Jordan Howard with a career-high 27 points. Howard was 6 of 8 from the field, 5 of 7 from three-point range and 10 of 12 from the free-throw line. Junior guard Mike Martin also had a career-high 23 points _ including 5 threes _ and added a career-high 10 assists and 7 rebounds.

    The Bears, who entered the game just 2-16 career against the fourth-place Demons, shot season highs of 58.1 percent from the field, 52 percent from three-point range and shot their second-best percentage (82.1) from the free-throw line. UCA also won the rebound battle for just the sixth time this season 39-31 and took the game down to the wire in front of a season-high crowd of 2,120.

    "First and foremost, I was extremely proud of our team,' said UCA head coach Russ Pennell. "I told them, if we play at that level with our effort, we'll win some games. And in time, when we get a little bit bigger and stronger, and we add some pieces to it, this is going to be a good basketball team.

    "We have the ingredients. It's just that we haven't put it together yet. Tonight was the closest thing. We were very close. Even when they got us down to start the second half, we would have folded like a cheap suit most of the time. Instead we hung in there. With that type of effort, we'll be fine.'

    The Bears, down 52-47 at halftime despite shooting 66.7 percent from the field, opened up the second half with a 24-7 scoring run to grab a 71-59 lead on the Demons, their biggest advantage of the season. After NSU cut it back to 75-72 with 9:37 left top play, neither team led by more than six points the rest of the way in what turned out to be a dog fight.

    UCA grabbed its final lead at 93-92 on an inside move by freshman forward Albert Christensson with 5:16 to play. The Demons pushed the margin back to five at 103-98 but the Bears responded again. Martin's fifth three-pointer with 1:51 remaining made it a 103-101 game. 

    NSU's Zeke Woodley, who scored 26 points, made a layup, UCA's Jake Zuilhof dunked and Woodley made two free throws for a 107-103 Demons' lead. Martin scored a layup to make it 107-105 with just 34 seconds to play. NSU's Devonte Hall made 3 of 4 at the line but Howard did the same after being fouled on a three-point attempt. That made it 110-108 with 8.7 seconds before the Demons ran out the clock.

    Freshman Mathieu Kamba continued his strong play off the bench with 16 points and 9 rebounds, going 7 of 11 from the field. Junior center Jake Zuilhof had 14 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocks, while freshman guard Boo Milligan added 11 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists.

    "I thought the ball movement was much better tonight, the ball got shared,' said Pennell. "We've got good shooters. You get guys open, they're probably going to make shots. I think the last few games we've been a little bit stagnant. I thought Jake got involved a lot more tonight, and we got him involved more. That sets up everything for us. I like the way he's playing. Jake's a big part of the now and the future.'

    "And I thought defensively, it went a little better. Even though they made some shots, we kept them in the 40 percent (48.7). And they're a pretty good offensive team. Overall, I just thought the effort was better tonight.'

    Junior guard Jalan West topped Northwestern State with 28 points, including 10 of 11 from the line. He added 7 rebounds and 7 assists. The Demons finished 11 of 25 from beyond the arc and made 25 of 33 (75.8 percent) from the line.

    "Very proud of Jordan,' Pennell said. "He hasn't practiced but one time this week. He has a torn meniscus in his knee and has to have surgery when the season is over. He could very easily just go, you know, let's just shut it down and get it done. And he's not doing that. I'll step out again, and I don't care that we haven't won a game, he's the best freshman in this league. It will be a crying shame if he's not the freshman of the year in the Southland Conference.'

    UCA is at home again on Saturday, taking on New Orleans at 2:30 in an ESPN3 game.