CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears will be on their home court at the Farris Center just two more times this season, beginning with a matchup with Sam Houston State at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

The Bears, 7-4 at home this season, will then close out the regular season on Saturday against Northwestern State with Senior Day activities for Jordan Howard, Mathieu Kamba and Ethan Lee. 

UCA is trying to solidify it's second consecutive berth in next week's Southland Conference Tournament at the Merrell Center in Katy, Texas. The Bears are 8-8 in conference play and in sole possession of seventh place, with the top eight teams receiving bids to the tournament. A win over the third-place Bearkats would certainly help the Bears' cause.

The Bearkats (18-11, 12-4) beat the Bears 82-76 on Jan. 3 in Huntsville, Texas. SHSU, one of the top defensive teams in the league, held UCA to just 40.3-percent shooting overall and 27.3 percent (6 of 22) from three-point range. After trailing by three points at halftime, SHSU outscored UCA 46-37 in the second half.

UCA is coming off a dramatic, last-second 74-72 victory over Abilene Christian on the road last Saturday in which junior Thatch Unruh sunk a short putback shot at the buzzer. Howard scored a game-high 29 points, hitting 5 of 8 from three-point range, while Kamba added 18 points and center Hayden Koval had 16 points, 7 rebounds and 5 blocked shots. Koval did not play in the first meeting with the Bearkats because of a sprained ankle.

SHSU has won two consecutive games, and six of its past seven, with the lone loss to league-leader Nicholls State by a score of 73-72 on the road. 

Howard, who has already set the UCA and SLC records for career three-pointers, as well as the school's all-time scoring mark, can break another record on Wednesday. Howard has scored 2,389 career points, just seven points from becoming the all-time NCAA Division I scorer in Arkansas history. All-American Todd Day scored 2,395 points for the Arkansas Razorbacks from 1989-92.

The Bears have already set a new school season record for three-pointers with 247 (8.5 per game), thanks in large part to Howard's 97, which ranks second in UCA history, behind his own 101 from last year. Howard also owns the third-best total of 95 from his sophomore season of 2015-16. Howard is the active career scoring leader in the NCAA and is tied for first in career three-pointers among active players. 

Koval, a 7-foot freshman from Prosper, Texas, is 11 blocked shots away from breaking the single-season school record of 99 held by Dirrell Nevels. He currently leads the SLC with 3.2 blocks per game, which is a better average than six SLC teams. Kamba, a 6-5 guard from Calgary, Alberta, is in in the Top 10 at UCA in career rebounding (681) and Top 12 in career scoring (1,373 points). 

The next UCA victory would give the Bears (14-15, 8-8) the most wins in the NCAA Division I era which began in 2006-07. They have already won the most games against Division I opponents in that same time span.

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