CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears will go for their third consecutive Southland Conference victory Thursday night when they host the Abilene Christian Wildcats at 7 p.m. at the Farris Center.

    UCA (6-18, 5-6) beat Northwestern State 107-97 and Southeastern Louisiana 68-66 last week to move into a seventh-place tie in the Southland Conference standings. The Bears have seven more regular-season games to play, including another home matchup with Nicholls State on Saturday that closes out a five-game homestand. UCA is 2-1 in that span so far, with the lone loss coming by one point against Incarnate Word.

    A three-game winning streak would be the first since the Bears closed out the 2012-13 regular season with four straight victories, three against league teams, to earn a spot in the SLC Tournament.  It would also be just the third three-game SLC winning streak for the Bears since they joined the league in 2006-07.

    The Wildcats (10-12, 4-7) will be looking to avenge an 81-76 loss to the Bears on Jan. 5 in Abilene. ACU won consecutive games last week, including a 71-64 upset of league-leader Sam Houston State on Saturday in Abilene and an overtime win over second-place New Orleans last Wednesday, also at Moody Coliseum.

    ACU has two Arkansans on the roster, sophomore guard Jaylen Franklin of Little Rock, the reigning SLC Freshman of the Year, and freshman Trey Lenox of Hot Springs. Sophomore Jaren Lewis leads the Wildcats in scoring at 14.2 points per game, followed by freshman Jalone Friday (13.6) and Franklin (10.7). Franklin is also seventh in the SLC in assists at 3.9 per game.

    In the first meeting, UCA juniors Jordan Howard and Mathieu Kamba scored 28 points apiece as the Bears shot 50 percent from the field for the game, 59.3 percent in the opening half. Sophomore center Tanner Schmit added 8 points and 10 rebounds as UCA dominated the rebounding 44-26. ACU got 41 points from its bench, with Friday and Isaiah Tripp scorig 17 and 16 points, respectively.

    The Bears also have three players averaging double figures in scoring, led by Howard at 19.7 points per game. Kamba is next at 14.8 and 7.0 rebounds, while senior Derreck Brooks stands at 13.1 points and 6.9 rebounds a game. Howard is No. 1 in the league in three-pointers (77), three-point percentage (46.7) and free-throw percentage (92.4). Kamba is fifth in the league in scoring (19.5) in SLC games and Brooks is eighth in rebounding (7.6).