CONWAY, Ark. _ A school-record 17 three-pointers carried the University of Central Arkansas Bears to a wildly entertaining 106-83 victory over the Nicholls Colonels on Saturday in front of a season-high crowd of 1,845 at the Farris Center.

    The Bears (8-18) won their fourth consecutive game to move above .500 in Southland Conference play at 7-6 and into sixth place in the standings. UCA was 17 of 28 (60.7 percent) from beyond the arc, with junior Jordan Howard hitting 8 of 9 and senior Derreck Brooks 6 of 8. Howard made his first eight three-point shots before finally missing with just 6:30 left in the game, one short of tying the individual school record.

    Howard finished with 33 points and Brooks added 29 as the Bears shot 56.5 percent for the game and handed out a season-high 29 assists on 35 made field goals.

    "I've kind of been waiting for our team to do this, really since we've been here,' said UCA head coach Russ Pennell. "We shoot the ball extremely well. If you ever come to our practices, in shooting drills we make a lot of shots. And I think the big thing to doing it in a game is when you're sharing the ball and the ball's given to you in a timely fashion.

    "You know, when you have 35 field goals and 29 of them are assisted on, you know you are really playing good team basketball. And that kind of led to the exceptional shooting tonight.'

    After trailing 16-8 early, the Bears grabbed a 50-41 halftime lead, breaking a 38-38 tie by scoring 12 points in the final 2:30, including Howard's layup at the buzzer. UCA shot 55.2 percent overall in the first half, including 10 of 15 (66.7) from three-point range. Nicholls was just 13 of 37 (35.1 percent) in the first half. 

    UCA came out in the opening 3:30 of the second half and nailed four three-pointers, three by Howard and another by Brooks, to run out to a 68-49 lead. The Colonels (11-14, 4-8) got back to within seven points with three consecutive three-pointers midway through the half but the Bears answered. A 16-4 run, begun by Jeff Lowery's three-pointer and finished off by Howard's layup, made it a 100-78 lead with 2:53 remaining.

    The Bears outscored the Colonels in bench points (33-29), points in the paint (28-17), and points off turnovers (10-8). UCA had nine players with at least two assists, led by Howard with 6 and Thatch Unruh with 5 off the bench. UCA also won the rebound battle 44-37, led by Brooks with 9 and Mathieu Kamba with 8 as 11 different Bears had at least one rebound.

    "I'm really proud of our bench guys,' Pennell said. "They are really starting to give us stuff that we've needed all year. And they are young. I have to keep reminding myself that Thatch Unruh, not only has he been injured a lot, but he redshirted last year. He hasn't been in competiton for awhile. And he's starting to round into shape. And then (true freshman) Darraja Parnell will show you what he is capable of. I'm looking forward to having an offseason with him. 

    "He knows what to expect now and with us being able to work with him in the spring and summer, I think he's going to be an exceptional player here at UCA.'

    Unruh, coming off a career-high 20 points last Thursday in the win over Abilene Christian, had 11 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists, while Parnell added 6 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists. Lowery, one of two UCA seniors along with Brooks, had 7 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists.

    Nicholls hit 18 of 48 (37.5 percent) from three-point range, led by Lafayette Rutledge, who went 9 of 22 from beyond the arc and scored 29 points off the bench. Rutledge entered the game averaging 10.7 points per game. NSU's leading scorer Ja'Dante' Frye was held to 9 points and was 3 of 10 from the field. The Colonels attempted 48 three-pointers and just 25 two-point shots.

    "I thought it was a complete game,' said Pennell. "Fourty-eight threes they attempted, that's incredible just how many they put up. And they got hot a couple of times. But I thought when they cut it to seven, we took the time out and talked about it. I thought our defense extended and got a little smarter on where No. 3 (Rutledge) was and got to him a little bit more.

    "As a coach, this is one of those games that it's kind of hard to be picky about anything that you didn't do fairly well.'

    The Bears and Colonels will meet again on Thursday night in Thibodaux, La., with a 6:30 tipoff at Stopher Gymnasium.