LITTLE ROCK, Ark. _ A tale of two halves did not favor the University of Central Arkansas Bears on Wednesday night at the Jack Stephens Center.

The Bears (4-4) let a 34-23 halftime lead disappear against the Little Rock Trojans and fell 71-65 in the first of two meetings with their in-state rival. The teams will play again on Saturday, Dec. 9 at the Farris Center in Conway.   

The Bears survived a frigid start the game _ making 1 of their first 10 field goal attempts _ but then put together runs of 16-0 midway through the half and 11-0 late in the half to stake themselves to the 11-point halftime lead. The Bears held the Trojans scoreless for a 4:59 stretch of the half and held them to just 29-percent shooting from the field. 

But the second half belonged to the Trojans (2-5), who shot 51.7 percent overall, made 4 of 11 from three-point range and went 14 of 20 at the free-throw line to rally for the victory.

"We just couldn't establish our pressure in the second half,' said UCA associate head coach Anthony Boone. "And really it started late in the first half, with the eight points they scored off our turnovers and offensive rebounds we let them get. We're up 11 at halftime, and if we're up 18, 19, they probably can't come back from that as easily.

"In the second half, we just totally let down on the defensive end. Our defense was great to start the game. The guys were on defensively, they were pumped up and hyped defensively. We were playing well. We were getting good lucks, we just weren't converting. But our defense was what let us down. It totally let us down and that's why we lost.'

The Trojans quickly overcame their halftime deficit and tied the game at 41-41 on Anthony Black's three-pointer at the 15:00 mark. UCA's last lead of the game came on Otas Iyekekpolor's layup with 8:30 to play, but the Trojans pushed their lead to as much as nine points heading into the final 3:30. Jordan Howard's three-pointer with :31 left cut the lead to just 68-65, but LR's Andre Jones and Cameron Corcoran combined to make 3 of 4 at the free-throw line in the final 28 seconds to seal it.

Howard, a senior guard from Chandler, Ariz., led four UCA players in double figures with 12 points, while junior Thatch Unruh and sophomore Darraja Parnell had 11 points each and freshman center Hayden Koval added 10. Jones topped the Trojans with 24 points, whle Jaizec Lottie had 13. Oliver Black pulled down 16 rebounds, seven on the offensive end.

UCA is off until next week when it faces San Francisco on Monday and California on Wednesday on a two-game California road swing.