CONWAY, Ark. _ The Sam Houston State Bearkats made 6 of 6 at the free-throw line in the final 30 seconds to finally subdue the University of Central Arkansas Bears 83-73 on Monday night in Southland Conference action at the Farris Center.

    The game was even at 63-63 with 4:46 to play but the third-place Bearkats (16-13, 11-5) outscored UCA 20-10 down the stretch to win it. UCA's Justin Foreman hit a three-point with 33.6 seconds left to get the Bears within 77-73 but the Bearkats scored the game's final six points, all from the foul line.

    SHSU won the first meeting 105-75 on Feb. 20 in Huntsville, Texas.

    UCA sophomore guard Jordan Howard led the Bears with 24 points, hitting four three-pointers to increase his season total to 90, just four short of tying the school single-season record of 94 set by Rodney Dean in 1998-99. He also improved his career total ot 167, putting him third on that list.

    "I thought we played really hard, I thought our effort was good enough to win,' said UCA head coach Russ Pennell. "One of the things we're going to have to learn _ and we haven't been in a lot of close games, so these are opportunities for us to learn things _ I need more players to step up in the clutch. We can't just depend on Jordan taking the shots all the time and expect him to hit every one of them.

    "I need guys that want the ball at the end of the game. And I didn't think anyone shrunk away from it, but we have to figure that out. When it's winning time, you have to make plays, and I just didn't think we made enough of them tonight.'

    The Bears (7-19, 6-10) ran out to a 10-0 lead in the first 4:30 of the game as senior Justin Foreman nailed his first two three-point attempts and graduate center Jake Zuilhof scored inside. The Bearkats slowly got back in the game, closing the gap to just two points with 7:00 left to play when Aurimus Majauskas made a three-pointer.

    UCA answered with a three-pointer by junior guard Jeff Lowery from the left wing and the Bears pushed their lead back to as much as eight points a couple of times, the last on Howard's jumper with 4:28 left in the half. But SHSU closed the half with an 8-2 run to get within 33-31 at the break.

    Foreman finished the half with three fouls while Zuilhof had two, and quickly picked up two more early in the second half. Freshman Tanner Schmit spelled him and played 15 minutes off the bench. Lowery also had 13 points off the bench for UCA, hitting 6 of 6 from the free-throw line.

    "Both of those guys did a nice job,' said Pennell. "Jeff was attacking the basket well, and I'd like to see him do it a little bit more. And I thought Tanner had kind of a grow-up moment. I thought he played well on the defensive end. I thought he played the way we saw him a little bit earlier in the season. The reason he hasn't grown as much is we haven't played him as much.

    "But he's the future in there and we're excited about that. He had a good game and that bodes well for us in the future.'

    The teams traded leads for much of the second half, with Howard scoring 15 of his 24 points after the break. The Bearkats, who were just 2 of 12 from three-point range in the first half, made 8 of 14 in the final 20 minutes. Dakari Henderson finished with 28 points for SHSU, hitting 5 of 11 from beyond the arc,

    "One of those things we talk about in that zone is that you can't get caught ball watching,' said Pennell. "Unfortunately it happened tonight. When that occurs, there's just no defense for that. You just don't know when the guy is there but you aren't quick enough, the ball goes over your head and you can't turn and get there in time.

    "So the lack of awareness kind of cost us on those. But that's some of the trials and tribulations of playing zone. You're going to make some of those mistakes and we're going to have to try to correct that.'

    Foreman, a senior from Bellaire, Texas, was 3 of 5 from three-point range and added 16 points for the Bears. Junior Derreck Brooks had a game-high 12 rebounds to go with 7 points and 3 assists.  

    The Bears will play their final two games of the season at the Farris Center this week, hosting Nicholls State at 7 p.m. Thursday and McNeese State for Senior Day at 4 p.m. Saturday.