CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears will attempt to make it three consecutive victories against the Lamar Cardinals when they meet in Southland Conference action at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Farris Center.

    Both the Bears (6-10, 1-2) and Cardinals (8-8) are in need of a conference win after starting league play with 1-2 marks. UCA dropped a home game to Sam Houston State on Wednesday while Lamar also lost at home, to New Orleans in overtime.

    The Bears have beaten the Cardinals six of the past eight meetings after starting the series with 10 consecutive losses dating back to 2007. UCA won a wild double-overtime affair 100-91 in the regular-season meeting in Beaumont a year. The Bears then picked up their first SLC Tournament victory, beating the Cardinals 67-57 in a polar opposite type of game.

    In the first meeting, Lamar's Colton Weisbrod scored 38 points, hitting 16 of 22 at the free-throw line. UCA's Jordan Howard led five Bears in double figures with 27 points as UCA outscored Lamar 14-5 in the second overtime period. In the tournament first-round rematch at the Merrell Center in Katy, Texas, UCA held Lamar to just 37.1 percent shooting overall (4 of 26 from three-point range) and limited Weisbrod to just three field-goal attempts and five points.

    The Bears rallied from a 20-point deficit with just five minutes remaining on Wednesday against the Bearkats and cut the margin to just five points in the final 30 seconds before falling. UCA was coming off a 73-71 road victory over Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday in Hammond, La., that had evened their league record at 1-1.

    Lamar also lost an overtime SLC game at Houston Baptist on Jan. 2 and beat Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at home on Jan. 5. UCA lost at A&M-CC on Jan. 2 against the only common opponent thus far this season.

    Lamar's leading scorer, senior guard Nick Garth (15.5 ppg), has missed the past two games. Junior forward Josh Nzeakor  is averaging 15.3 points and 8.5 rebounds a game for the Cardinals, who lead the SLC in rebounding (40.1 pg), rebounding margin (+6.4) and three-point defense (30.2 percent). Lamar is second in the SLC in scoring average at 79.9 points per game and fourth in defense, allowing 69.4.

    UCA is led by sophomore guard DeAndre Jones, who is one of four Bears averaging in double figures at 13.1 points per game. Senior guard Thatch Unruh is coming off a season-high 27 points against SHSU and connected on 6 of 9 from three-point range in the loss. UCA averages 8.4 made three-pointers per game while Lamar allows just 6.8.

    UCA returns to the road next Wednesday night at Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas.