CONWAY — With the No. 1 seed in the Southland Conference tournament wrapped up, Central Arkansas returns to the Farris Center tonight for the first of two games this week to close out the regular season, still chasing a possible regular season championship and a program wins record.

The Sugar Bears, at 24-3 overall and 14-2 in the Southland, need some help if they are to earn a share of the league title as Abilene Christian remains a game ahead at 15-1 with home games remaining against Incarnate Word (3-13 Southland) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (6-10) tonight and Saturday.

With their next win, the Sugar Bears will break the program record for overall and conference wins in a season as a Division I program, tied on both fronts with the 2011-12 team that finished the regular season 24-5 overall and 14-2 in league play, and would set a new high mark for regular season wins in program history regardless of division. The Sugar Bears can still match the overall program record of 28 victories (2002-03, 2004-05, both in Division II) by winning both remaining regular season games and winning both games in the conference tournament.

Their first opportunity comes at 7:00pm against Nicholls (9-17, 7-9), which has lost four of its last five – most recently falling 96-62 at McNeese State last Saturday. The Colonels are just 3-8 on the road this season, last winning away from Thibodaux on Jan. 30 with a 66-64 win at Incarnate Word. They also own wins at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (64-62) and Sam Houston State (67-63).

Nicholls has won in its last two trips to the Farris Center, winning 75-72 last season in overtime, and 68-62 in 2013 with the teams meeting only once in 2014. The Sugar Bears last beat the Colonels in Conway in 2012 with a 67-47 win.

The Sugar Bears won this season's first matchup with the Colonels 71-65 in Thibodaux, outscoring the Colonels 46-36 in the second half to overcome a 29-25 halftime deficit. Maggie Proffitt had 18 points in that game to lead the Sugar Bears, while Brianna Mullins and Taylor Baudoin each had 14 and Kendara Watts 10. 

LiAnn McCarthy had 26 for the Colonels and Cassidy Barrios 20 as the duo combined to shoot 55.6 percent (15 of 27) from the field, including 5 of 8 from 3-point range.