CONWAY, Ark.  _  The youthful University of Central Arkansas Bears are figuring how to win close games.

The Bears (9-10) improved to 4-2 in Southland Conference play Saturday at the Farris Center, holding off the Nicholls Colonels 74-68 for their third consecutive league victory. UCA outscored Nicholls 9-3 over the final 2:40 to secure the victory and improve its home record to 6-1 on the season. UCA has won four of its past five games, three of which were decided in the final minute of play.

"These are conference games,' said UCA head coach Russ Pennell, "and I told the guys, when you're trying to win a conference chanpionship... if you look at any league in America, all the talent is usually relevant. So what it comes down to is can you execute when the game is on the line. And I thought that we were really good the last two minutes.We did the things we needed to do and we got a couple of run-out layups that kind of sealed the deal.

"Really proud of the win tonight. Key rebounds at key moments, and key plays from players you're learning to trust, and feel like that they are gaining tons of experience in these close ball games.''     

The Bears, starting two freshmen and two sophomores, got a free throw from sophomore DeAndre Jones, a layup by freshman Eddy Kayouloud, a breakaway dunk by sophomore Matthew Mondesir and two more free throws by Jones with just 10.3 seconds left. The Colonels' only points were three free throws by Gavin Peppers with 11.7 remaining.

Sophomore center Hayden Koval controlled the inside for the Bears throughout, finishing with 20 points, 8 rebounds and 6 blocked shots. Kayouloud, a true freshman, had 16 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists while Jones had a season-high 9 assists with just 2 turnovers. UCA finished with just 10 turnovers and had 18 assists. In the past three wins, UCA has averaged 18.6 assists and 11.6 turnovers.

"We're getting better at that,' said Pennell. "Our turnovers are starting to go down and the assists are starting to go up. What you get when you're sharing the ball like that is contributions from a lot of different people.'

The Bears survived a perimeter assault by the Colonels, who connected on 15 of 33 from three-point range. Nicholls entered the game as the SLC leader in made three-pointers, averaging 9.4 per game, but nearly hit that average in the second half alone, going 8 for 15. Peppers was 7 of 8 from beyond the arc, while Jeremiah Johnson was 2 of 6 in the first half but just 1 of 6 in the second.

Peppers finished with a season-high 26 points and Jefferson added 14. The 15 threes was the most allowed by the Bears this season and the second-most made by the Colonels.
   

"I told the guys I didn't think they could make enough threes to beat us, and they dang near did,' said Pennell. "You have to make a lot of threes and shoot a great percentage to do that. I thought at the half, we tightened our defense up. I thought we did a little bit better job of containing. I didn't feel like in the first half there was an urgency on the defensive end. We were scoring relatively easy and I thought we were kind of playing that way on the defensive end, too. The second half was much, much better, and Hayden was a big part of that.'

Koval was one point short of his season high of 21 points and two shy of his career high. His six blocked shots tied his season high and put him just 11 blocks behind UCA career leader Durrell Nevels' mark of 148. The nine assists was a season high for Jones, who also had six points and four rebounds. Sophomores Matthew Mondesir and Jared Chatham had 9 and 8 points, respectively, off the UCA bench. The Bears scored 32 points in the paint compared to just  10 for the Colonels.

The Bears continue their two-game homestand on Wednesday night, hosting the New Orleans Privateers at 7 p.m.