BEARS MAKE IT THREE STRAIGHT WITH 84-73 WIN OVER WILDCATS

    CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears got a combined 61 points from three players Thursday and completed the season sweep of Abilene Christian with an 84-73 victory at the Farris Center, their third consecutive Southland Conference victory.

    The Bears (7-18, 6-6) got a season-high 22 points from senior Derreck Brooks, a career-high 20 from sophomore Thatch Unruh and 19 from leading scorer Jordan Howard to win their third consecutive home game in a five-game homestand. Brooks also had 13 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season and sixth of his career. Unruh was 4 of 6 from three-point range and Howard made 3 of 4 from beyond the arc.

    "What I like more than anything right now is I think I'm starting to know what we're going to get out of our team,' said UCA head coach Russ Pennell. "And as a coach, that's what you want to know. Are they going to show up, are they going to compete, are they going to give their best. And if they do give their best, they're going to be hard to beat, especially the way we score the ball. 

    "So that's probably what I've gained out of the last three games. I see ownership by our guys, they're communicating better, and that's real pleasing to me.'

    UCA shot 52.9 percent overall from the field and 50 percent from beyond the arc. The Bears' defense held the Wildcats to 32.3 percent in the first half and 40 percent for the game. ACU was coming off back-to-back wins over the top two teams in the league in Sam Houston State and New Orleans.

    "I thought at times our defense was really good,' said Pennell. "It's steadily gotten better over the last month. The only thing I didn't like was down the stretch I didn't think we did a very good job of stopping penetration. They just started running it down our throat and we didn't close those driving lanes down. 

    "But we played well enough to spot ourselves a little bit (of a lead). I thought the game was hard-fought. They're a good team. Joe Golding is a very good coach. I think he does an outstanding job. There's a reasaon they've beaten some of these good teams. For us to get a sweep of them, that's a good testimony for what we want to do. I just thought it was very well played by both teams. We're getting tougher and I think the mental toughness led to the victory tonight.'

    Senior guard Jeff Lowery nailed a long three-pointer that just beat the halftime buzzer _ after an official's review _ to give the Bears a 37-28 halftime lead. The Bears shot 60 percent from the field, led by Brooks' 10 points at the break. The Wildcats (10-13, 4-8) opened the second half with a 15-6 run to tie the game at  43-43 in the opening five minutes.

    But the Bears withstood that burst and pushed their lead to double digits at 61-49 on freshman Aaron Weidenaar's layup with 8:16 to play. UCA held that advantage most of the rest of the game, with ACU finally cutting its deficit to just eight points with less than a minute remaining. The Bears, who struggled somewhat from the free-throw line, made 5 of 6 in the final seconds to secure the win. UCA entered the game as the top free-throw shooting team in the league but made just 22 of 32 (68.8 percent).

    Unruh, a redshirt sophomore, hit a pair of three-pointers in both halves and topped his previous season high of 9 points and career high of 17.

    "The biggest thing with Thatch is he's missed up to about six weeks of practice time,' said Pennell. "He got hurt early, he had a stress fracture in his foot. He came back and was playing really, really good against Arkansas State and he might as well have broken his wrist. It wasn't broken but he missed another 2 1/2 weeks. And I think what he tried to do was rush himself coming back, and then he put pressure on himself. 

    "We told him a couple of weeks ago, I thought I saw him coming out of the slump in practice, but a lot of time it doesn't magnify itself in a game until you get minutes. And the last couple of games you could see him playing like the kind of player we thought he would be. I'm really happy for him because he's never made any excuses, never put his head down. He just keeps working hard, and it's good to see him have some success.'

    Brooks carried the Bears in the first half with 10 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists. Brooks and Howard combined to go 14 of 17 at the free-throw line for the game, including 11 of 14 in the second half. Brooks also added a team-high three blocked shots.

 

    "When Brooksie is on, we're a really good team,' said Pennell. "His cool nature is actually what makes him an awfully good player. He had an outstanding game.'

    The Bears finish out their five-game home stand with a matchup with the Nicholls Colonels at 4 p.m. Saturday. From there, they will play four of their final six games on the road while trying to earn a berth in the eight-team Southland Conference Tournament.
    
    Our closing schedule is difficult, it's tough, and we know that,' said Pennell. "So the home games become so critical. And I like the fact that we're developing a little bit of a home-court advantage. Our fans have been great. They've been loud, they've been boisterous, they've really supported this team. They don't understand how that lifts us.

    "We hit a three and it sounds like the roof comes off this place. That's been really, really good.'