HAMMOND, La. _ The University of Central Arkansas broke one three-point record and tied another Wednesday night, but those were the lone bright spots for the Bears as they dropped an 87-70 decision to Southeastern Louisiana in Southland Conference play at the University Center.

    The Bears entered the game tied with the Lions for seventh place in the SLC standing with 7-8 records. The top eight teams reach the SLC postseason tournament in two weeks in Katy, Texas. The Bears (8-21, 7-9) have two regular-season games remaining, at home against Stephen F. Austin on Saturday and at Northwestern State on Saturday, March 3.

    Junior guard Jordan Howard broke his own single-season record for three-pointers and now has 96 for the year with two regular-season games remaining. Howard set the single-season mark last season with 95 three-pointers, breaking Rodney Dean's record of 94. Howard also holds UCA's career three-point record with 268 after going 2 for 6 against SLU.

    The Bears also matched their single-season record of 208 three-pointers, going 10 of 20 against the Lions.

    The Lions (15-14, 8-8), who improved to 11-3 at home this season, avenged a last-second loss to the Bears on Feb. 4 at the Farris Center. Howard nailed a three-pointer with 2.2 seconds left to secure that win. On Wednesday, the Lions used superior shooting, both overall and from three-point range, and got a game-high 28 points from sophomore guard Marlain Veal to hand the Bears their third consecutive loss after a four-game winning streak.

    The second meeting was only in doubt for the first seven minutes as SLU led 17-14 at the 13:00 mark of the first half. The Lions then put together an 18-2 run to push their lead to 19 points with 7:00 remaining. The Bears got it back to a 14-point deficit on a Thatch Unruh layup with 33 seconds left but Marlain Veal nailed his third three-pointer of the half in the final seconds to give SLU a 46-29 halftime lead.

    UCA shot just 31.4 percent overall and 2 of 7 (28.6 percent) from three-point range in the opening 20 minutes. SLU hit 60 percent overall and was 5 of 10 from beyond the arc. Veal led all scorers with 19 points at the break.

    "We just didn't play very well. And I'm disappointed,' said UCA head coach Russ Pennell. "I'm really disappointed in this group right now. I'm disappointed in their lack of fight early on. First five possessions, they scored. And there was no resistance. 

    "I told them, we have only two games left, and really I'm not even thinking about Katy. What I'm thinking about with these last two games is, they are going to do what I tell them to do or I'm going to bench them. And that's why we got beat. We're just not doing the little things it takes to win. Right now, we're just not good enough.'



    The Bears, with a young lineup on the floor, showed some life late in the second half. Down by as much as 27 points twice, the Bears strung together a 15-0 run to get within 75-63 with 5:50 remaining. Most of that run was three-point shooting Unruh, a sophomore, and freshmen Aaron Weidenaar and Darraja Parnell.

    UCA connected from three-point range eight times in the second half, including 3 of 5 from Weidenaar and 2 of 2 from Parnell.

    "I was really happy with that group we had on the floor at the end,' said Pennell. "We had two freshmen in there and they were playing their tail off. And we had a redshirt sophomore in there and he was doing a nice job. And the I thought (senior) Jeff Lowery gave us good minutes tonight, too.  

    The Bears shot 35.9 percent from the field for the game and UCA's second leading scorer Derreck Brooks went scoreless for the first time in his two-year career. Brooks had 4 rebounds and 5 assists but was 0 for 5 from the field. Howard led the Bears with 17 points, while Parnell added 13 and Unruh 12. SLU had five players in double figures and shot 57.6 percent for the game. 

    UCA will host "Senior Day" activities for Derreck Brooks and Jeff Lowery on Saturday against SFA. Game time is approximately 6 p.m. following the Sugar Bears' game.