PITTSBURGH, Pa. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears stayed within striking distance of the Pitt Panthers for a half Thursday night before falling 97-71 at Petersen Events Center.

The Bears (2-2) led through the first seven minutes of action, by as much as nine points, before foul trouble and turnovers eventually took their toll. UCA was called for 27 fouls, resulting in a 35-13 discrepancy in free throw attempts. UCA was 9 of 13 while Pitt was 26 of 35. The Bears also turned the ball over a season-high 23 times to just 10 for the ACC member Panthers (4-0).

Senior Thatch Unruh kept the Bears close early, scoring 12 of his team-high 15 points in the opening five minutes of the game. UCA led 19-16 at the 13:48 mark of the first half, but Pitt tied it with a three-pointer by Jared Wilson-Frame and never trailed again. UCA had three starters _ centers Hayden Koval and SK Shittu and point guard DeAndre Jones _ pick up two fouls each by the 12:00 mark of the first half.

The Bears stayed within five points on consecutive slam dunks by freshman Khaleem Bennett, the latter with 4:00 left in the half. But the Panthers outscored the Bears 14-8 down the stretch to post a 48-37 advantage at the break. The Bears out-shot the Panthers from the field in the first half, hitting 48.1 percent overall and 58.3 percent (7 of 12) from three-point range. 

However, the turnover difference was 14-3 in favor of the Panthers and they scored 21 points off those miscues. For the game, Pitt had 31 points off UCA's 23 turnovers.

In the second half, the Panthers tried to pull away early but a tip-in by Bennett kept UCA within 10 points at 56-46. But from there, Pittsburg outscored UCA 41-25 to lead by as much as 28 points before capping it off with a pair of free throws by Sidy N'Dir with 13 seconds left. Four Bears finished with four fouls, while nine of the 11 Bears who saw action had at least one foul.

Sophomore forward Jared Chatham came off the bench to score 11 points and pull down 4 rebounds for the Bears. Bennett and Koval had 10 points each, with Koval adding a team-high 7 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. UCA finished 10 of 21 from three-point range (47.6 percent), with three each from Unruh and Koval (3 of 3). Wilson-Frame led the Panthers with 20 points, going 4 of 8 from three-point range, while Au'Diese Toney added 15 points as the second of five players in double figures. 

UCA continues its three-game road trip at Troy (Ala.) University at 2 p.m. Sunday.