HOUSTON, Texas _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears will try to make it two consecutive Southland Conference victories on Thursday night when they take on the Houston Baptist Huskies at Sharp Gymnasium.

    The Bears (3-13, 2-1) will face the Huskies (7-7, 3-1) at 8 p.m. on the American Sports Network. 

    The Huskies, who are 6-0 at home this season, are in a second-place tie in the SLC at 3-1, trailing New Orleans (4-0). UCA is tied for fourth with Nicholls at 2-1 after last Thursday's 81-76 road victory over Abilene Christian. This will be the third consecutive home game for HBU, while UCA will be playing its second of four straight road games. The Bears will play at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 7 p.m. Saturday as part of a doubleheader with the Sugar Bears (4:30).

    UCA will also have an upcoming five-game homestand beginning with Incarnate Word on Jan. 28 at the Farris Center.

    The Bears have three players averaging double figures, led by junior guard Jordan Howard at 19.1 per game, which ranks second in the conference. He is also first in the league in free-throw percentage (66 of 71, 93.0 percent) and leads the SLC in three-pointers made per game (3,2 per game, league-high 51 total). Junior Mathieu Kamba is UCA's second-leading scorer at 12.7 points per game and is coming off a career-high 28-point performance at ACU last week. Kamba is also UCA's top rebounder at 7.1 per game, good for eighth in the SLC.

    HBU, coached by 26-year veteran Ron Cottrell, is led by senior forward Colter Lasher, who averaged 15.6 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. Senior Reveal Chukwujekwu is next at 11.1 pints and 7.2 rebounds, followed by junior 6-foot-11 center Josh Ibarra at 10.4 points and 6.6 rebounds. The Huskies are third in the SLC in rebounding with a +3.5 rebounding margin. The Bears are coming off their largest rebound margin of the season, outrebounding ACU 44-26 last Thursday. 

    The Huskies lead the overall series 3-1, with UCA's lone victory came in the first-ever meeting on Jan. 4, 2014 with the Bears winning 86-69 at the Farris Center.

    The game will be on The Bear 91.3, ucasports.com/KUCA, http://southland.org/live and will be televised on Conway Corp 148/176, KATV-DT3, DirecTV 665-1 and Dish 442/9580.