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   CONWAY, Ark. _ The good news is the University of Central Arkansas Bears are back at home Saturday afternoon. The bad news is the highest-scoring team in the Southland Conference is their opponent.

    The Bears host the Lamar Cardinals at 4 p.m. at the Farris Center. Lamar leads the SLC, averaging 78.6 points per game en route to a 9-5 overall record and a 1-1 league mark. UCA is 1-11 and 0-2 after a 94-82 loss at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Tuesday night.

    UCA has the better individual scorer of the two teams in sophomore guard Jordan Howard, Last year's SLC Freshman of the Year is coming off a career night at Corpus Christi, where he scored 36 points, made 6 of 7 from three-point range and was 10 of 10 at the free-throw line. His previous career high was 27 points against Northwestern State last season.

    The 36 points was the second-highest output in the SLC this season and helped push Howard to No. 2 in scoring in the league at 17.3 points per game. His 85.7 percent (6 of 7) from beyond the arc is tops in the league and his six threes made is tied for second.

    The Bears also got 17 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 assists and 1 blocked shot from sophomore Mathieu Kamba in his first start of the season against the Islanders. Junior guard Derreck Brooks contributed 15 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists in the loss.

    The Cardinals are coming off a 68-64 home loss to New Orleans, their second-lowest scoring outing of the season. Lamar shot just 36.5 percent overall and had and SLC-high 28 turnovers, off which the Privateers scored 31 points.   

    Lamar won the last meeting between the teams _ 84-65 last year in Beaumont, Texas _ after UCA had won three consecutive in the series. The Cardinals jumped out to a 52-29 halftime lead in that game, shooting 61.1 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes from the Montagne Center. UCA rallied in the second half, outscoring Lamar 36-32 but could not overcome the large deficit.

    Both teams placed four players in double figures, led by Lamar's Zjori Bosha's 19 points. The top returnees were Howard with 13 points for UCA and Kevin Boooze with 14 for Lamar.

    After Saturday, the Bears will play four of their next five games on the road, beginning Tuesday night at defending SLC champion Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches, Texas.