CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears survived a 20-point run by the home team in the first half but could not make enough plays down the stretch to earn the victory Saturday night, dropping an 88-81 decision to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders in Southland Conference action at American Bank Center.
UCA (4-13, 3-2) was trying to win its third straight conference game on the road, and had the game tied for the 10th and final time with 6:00 minutes remaining. But the Islanders (9-7, 2-3) made enough plays to hold the Bears off as All-SLC center Rashawn Thomas scored seven of his 27 points in a row and Ehab Amin made 4 of 5 at the free-throw line in the final 35 seconds to seal it.
The Bears made just 4 of 23 (9.1 percent) from three-point range, their worst outing of the season from the perimeter, and committed 28 personal fouls. UCA's bench shot a combined 1 for 15 from the field. UCA's leading scorer Jordan Howard was held to four first-half points before finishing with 16, going 7 for 7 from the free-throw line.
"But even with all of that, we're right there,' said UCA head coach Russ Pennell. "And that was my message in the locker room. You know, you're going to kick yourself when you watch the film. But two minutes to go it's a one-possession game. And we've got to learn to close some of those things out. We just didn't get enough stops the second half.
"But I just thought we looked tired. And I'm not using that as an excuse. I just didn't think we had that step and that spunk. And we have to get some production from some guys off the bench. Jordan's got to learn to play with that reputation. He better be able to do some other things besides just shoot, and I thought the second half he did. I thought he took that challenge.'
The Bears jumped out to a 12-point lead with 8:20 left in the first half behind a quick start from senior guard Derreck Brooks. But the Bears then went scoreless for a five-minute span as the Islanders scored 20 consecutive points to grab a 34-26 advantage with 3:30 to play. The Bears survived that drought and fought their way back to just a 37-36 deficit at halftime after Mathieu Kamba scored inside with 30 seconds remaining.
Kamba finished with a team-high 27 points, hitting 8 of 9 from the field and 10 of 13 from the free-throw line. He also pulled down 8 rebounds.
"He's just a do-it-all kind of guy,' Pennell said. "I actually kind of admonished the team for not going to him enough. I didn't think we made a conscience enough effort to get him the ball in the second half. When a guy goes 8 for 9 and gets to the foul line 13 times, he's probably not shooting enough.
"I think one of the things with the growth of our team is, when someone gets a hot hand, you have to get them the ball. And in the first half before Derreck got in foul trouble, he had it going for a minute. When you have players the caliber of Jordan (Howard), Derreck and Mathieu, you have to figure out which one has it going.'
In a back-and-forth second half, there were l2 lead changes and the score was tied eight times. The Islanders staved off the Bears behind the inside work of Thomas and some solid perimeter shooting, hitting four three-pointers in the final 20 minutes. Brooks finished with 17 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists, while Howard added 16 points and sophomore Tanner Schmit had 13. Howard hit a late three-pointer with 26.1 left, his first of the game, to extend his streak of consecutive games with a three-pointer to 58.
"I'll say this, I was proud of our effort,' Pennell said. "I thought our effort was good. I didn't think our execution was always all that good. But we're learning to compete. And I told them, there aren't going to be a whole lot of people that come down here and win. This is a hard place to play.'
The Islanders, who got 27 points from Thomas and 21 points and 10 rebounds from Amin, won for the seventh time in seven tries at home this season. A&M-CC has won 28 of its last 29 home games, dating back to the 2014-15 season.
UCA wraps up its four-game road trip on Wednesday night, taking on the McNeese State Cowboys at 7 p.m. in Lake Charles, La.
