CONWAY, Ark. _ For a guy who had to work extra hard for most of his shots on Saturday at the Farris Center, University of Central Arkansas junior guard Jordan Howard had an extremely easy one to close out the game. 

    The leading three-pointer shooter in the Southland Conference _ and UCA history _ somehow found himself wide open at the top of the key with 2.2 seconds left and the Bears trailing Southeastern Louisiana 66-65. Coming off a screen by junior Mathieu Kamba, Howard took a pass from senior Derreck Brooks and calmly nailed the three-pointer to send the Bears to a 68-66 victory over the Lions, their second consecutive victory in front of the home fans. SLU's length-of-the-court inbounds pass was then intercepted by Kamba to end it.

    "Coach drew up a great play,' said Howard, who finished with 14 points and hit a three-pointer for the 64th consecutive game in a UCA uniform. "We knew they were either going to switch where Matty would have a mismatch so we were going to get it down to him, or I would come out and somehow be open. And I didn't think that was going to happen initially. Matty set a great screen I was able to curl around. And I was surprised when I caught it  at first, but I was ready to shoot. 

    "Great screen by Matty and great pass by Derreck. But yeah, I was surprised I was that open.'

    The Bears, who trailed the third-place Lions 37-33 at halftime, shot 54.2 percent overall in the second half, and made 4 of 6 from beyond the arc, including the game winner, his second three of the half that extended his streak of consecutive games with a three pointer to 64 straight.

    The teams traded big runs in the second half, with UCA putting together a 14-2 run and SLU answering with a 15-3 spurt. The Bears found themselves down 66-59 with 4:10 to play but scored the next six points on consecutive layups by Jeff Lowery, Ethan Lee and Kamba to close it to 66-65 with 2:10 to play. The next two minutes were chaotic as neither team scored on numerous possessions. 

    The Lions had a shot-clock violation and UCA turned the ball over on consecutive trips. UCA fouled SLU's Dimi Cook with 8.9 seconds left but he missed the front end of the one-and-one with Derreck Brooks grabbing the rebound. Brooks was fouled but it was only the sixth foul on the Lions so the Bears inbounded the ball from the right wing. Howard came off a screen by Kamba and popped the game winner, his 77th three-pointer of the season and 249th of his career.

    "I was really surprised that Jordan was that open,' said UCA head coach Russ Pennell. "But I think they were really concerned with Mathieu because he had gone to the rim repeatedly on the inside, and they knew that with less than three seconds we were probably going to go through him. It worked out good and I'm happy for the guys because we've been on the short end of that a couple of times. And to get that shot for Jordan, that's big.'



    Howard, the No. 2 scorer in the Southland Conference at 19.9 points per game, was hounded all afternoon by SLU guard Marlain Veal. Howard managed only 11 shot attempts but went 2 for 2 from three-point range in the second half to eventually finish with 14 points.

    "I thought he was a little impatient (in the first half),' said Pennell, "and in fact, I got aggravated with him and took him out a couple of times. And I don't get upset at Jordan very often. But I told him the last time I took him out that you have to trust what we're doing. When you do that, when you trust everyone else, it will come back to you. And it's never a selfishness on Jordan's part. It's just that he has supreme confidence.

    "And sometimes when he's struggling, I think he goes too fast and takes some marginal shots. And I was really proud of the way he played the last few minutes. I don't think he forced things. He's got to understand that sometimes the best thing he can do is just be on the floor and take a defender out of the play. And I thought that's what allowed Jeff to get to the basket and Mathieu to get to the basket and Ethan to get to the basket. Just simply because Jordan's man is never going to help.'

    UCA held SLU to just 30.3 percent shooting in the second half, including 4 of 14 from beyond the three-point line. UCA also held SLU scoreless for the final four minutes of the game after Polanco's three-pointer. Veal finished with 24 points, four short of his career high, hitting 5 of 8 from three-point range. Eddy Polanco hit three three-pointers and added 18 points for the Lions, who shot just 35.7 percent for the game.

    "Our defense is getting better,' said Pennell. "Tonight it was really good. Where I thought we made great improvement tonight was we got the rebounds that we needed to get down the stretch. We came up with some tough ones.'
    
    Brooks finished with his third double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Kamba added 13 points, while junior Ethan Lee added 10  points and 7 rebounds and senior guard Jeff Lowery contributed a game-high 7 assists.

    "The thing that makes Jeff so valuable is he's a true point guard,' said Pennell. "And that takes a lot of pressure off Jordan. He had seven assists and only two turnovers, man we'll take that from the backup point guard every night of the week. Like I tell Jeff, he's really our sixth starter. I could start him, but I really like him coming in (off the bench) for the steady, calming effect he has on the team.'

    The Bears coming off a 107-97 victory over Northwestern State on Thursday in a completely different type game, continue their homestand on Thursday night against Abilene Christian and Saturday against Nicholls.