LAKE CHARLES, La. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears came a few inches away from winning the final game of a long rebuilding season on Sunday afternoon.

    Freshman Thatch Unruh's long three-pointer at the buzzer was a couple of inches too long, allowing the McNeese State Cowboys to escape with a 70-68 victory at Burton Coliseum. UCA (2-27, 2-16) led for most of the game, but the Cowboys (14-15, 8-10) took their final lead on Desharick Guidry's twisting basket inside with just six seconds to play.

    McNeese, with a foul to give, used it by fouling Jordan Howard to disrupt UCA's final plan of attack. With four seconds left the Bears got the ball to Unruh well behind the three-point line and his shot hit the back of the rim. Unruh had made two earlier three-pointers in the game as UCA connected on 10 of 21 (47.6 percent) from beyond the arc.

    UCA had four players in double figures, led by freshman Howard with 15 points. His five three-pointers makes him the regular-season leader in the Southland Conference with 77 made threes. That total is the best by a UCA freshman and the fourth best in school history by any player. Freshman Mathieu Kamba added 12 points and 7 rebounds, while junior guard Mike Martin had 11 points and 9 assists, one short of his career high. Junior center Jake Zuilhof added 10 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocked shots.

    "It's definitely mixed emotions,' said first-year UCA head coach Russ Pennell. "I really like the way we played. I thought we competed extremely hard, and to come up short like that hurts. Especially leading as much as we did, and that late in the game. But you can't fault them for their fight.

    "I told them, our last three halves of basketball may have been the best of the year. The second half at Nicholls and these two. And also the first half at Sam Houston. And that's what you're looking for. We've really grown this last week in adverse situations. I'm proud of the guys.

    "And I thought Thatch got a pretty nice look. It was a little bit deep, but I've seen him hit those before. But it was just a little bit long. From where I was standing, it looked like it was pretty well dead on, but it just hit the back of the rim.' 

    The Bears, with no seniors and a brand new roster with the exception of sophomore Ethan Lee, battled the experienced Cowboys evenly throughout the game. UCA's largest lead was six points early in the second half after leading 30-26 at halftime. UCA's defense held McNeese State to 24.2-percent shooting in the first half, including a 2-of-12 performance from three-point range.

    The Cowboys improved to 52.8 percent on their home floor in the second half but still trailed the Bears for most of the final 20 minutes. The Bears, who had a season-low eight turnovers for the game, and just two in the first half, fell behind by three at 37-34 early in the second half but re-established control with an Unruh three-pointer, an inside basket by Jake Zuilhof and a pair of free throws from Ethan Lee.

    McNeese's Keelan Garrett tied the game at 63 with 1:46 to play but UCA's Boo Milligan made a three for a 66-63 advantage. A three-point play from Jamaya Burr knotted it again at 66 with 1:32 to play. After Burr gave the Cowboys a two-point lead, Zuilhof scored inside for the Bears to tie it at 68 with 32 seconds on the clock. Guidry then worked inside for an off-balance shot that somehow went in for the game-winner.

    "We're valueing the ball more, we're not making the careless plays nearly as much,' said Pennell. "The thing that really got us today is we just couldn't keep them off the glass. That kind of bit us again. I think a lot of that was we were just fatigued. We just couldn't get to the ball, they were quicker to the ball than we were.'

    McNeese outrebounded UCA 46-32, with 20 offensive rebounds for the Cowboys. Garrett and Kevin Hardy had 16 points each for the Cowboys. Guidry had 12 points and 10 rebounds.

    "I thought it was a season of growth,' said Pennell. "To me, it's almost like we're climbing Mt. Everest and we've just gotten to the mountain. We really haven't even started the climb. I think we've had some individuals get much, much better the second half of the year. I thought the last  3-4 games, including the one we won at home against Southeastern Louisiana, I thought we started looking like a basketball team.

    "And now we can add the pieces, the guys sitting out, the guys we have getting a year older. I think we have the nucleus for a pretty good team. And the work starts tomorrow. Basketball teams are really made from March to October, not from October to March.'