HAMMOND, La. — Central Arkansas came into Saturday's game at Southeastern Louisiana fourth in the Southland in scoring at 76.7 points per game, including 82.3 points per game in league play. But the Bears' offense was held in check on Saturday as they shot just 33.3 percent and were held to less than 60 points for just the fourth time this season as they fell 75-56 at the University Center.
The Bears (7-18, 6-9 Southland) were held to just 4 of 17 from 3-point range (23.5 percent) and shot just 14 of 24 (58.3 percent) from the free throw line as the Lions (9-19, 7-8) scored their seventh win in their last nine games.
"We really were just stagnant on offense," Bears head coach Russ Pennell said. "We thought they were going to come out in a zone and they did, and we were ready for that. But when we were going against their zone, we didn't really throw the ball inside. We just threw it around the perimeter and took a few 3s and never got in a flow offensively. Then, when they went man, we were really out of sync. It's unfortunate, because in the second half I thought our defense was good. We lost by one point and shut them down a little bit – 27 points was all they scored, but we couldn't score."
After the Bears jumped out to an early seven-point lead, the Lions rallied with a 23-6 run to take control of the game and eventually grew the lead to as many as 24 in the second half before the Bears were able to slow the Southeastern attack – holding the Lions to 41 percent shooting including just 18.2 percent from 3-point range after hitting nearly 55 percent in the first.
"I thought when we were up 15-8, we had three or four stops and I thought we should've been up 20 or 22 to 8," Pennell said. "But we did not get good, quality possessions with those stops. We just looked a little out of character, out of sync. We need to flush this one quick, get back in the film room and get ready for Sam on Monday."
Jordan Howard finished with 11 points for UCA, and Mathieu Kamba had 10 and added 7 rebounds to tie for the team lead with Justin Foreman, who also scored 9. Jake Zuilhof had 9 points, 5 rebounds and 3 blocks, and Derreck Brooks had 8 points, 6 rebounds and a team-high 3 assists.
Say Jackson had 21 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists for Southeastern, and JaMichael Hawkins added 15 points.
The Bears will wrap up their season next week with home games Monday, Thursday and Saturday against Sam Houston State, Nicholls and McNeese State with a chance to reach the program's highest conference win total since joining the Southland, needing one to tie and two to eclipse the 2012-13 team's mark of seven.
