WICHITA, Kan. _ A solid second half was not enough to overcome a big halftime deficit or a rash of turnovers on Thursday night as the University of Central Arkansas Bears fell 95-69 to the Wichita State Shockers at Charles Koch Arena.

The Bears (1-7) looked like they were coming off an 11-day break, with the rust certainly showing in the opening 20 minutes. UCA turned the ball over 17 times, leading to 26 points for the Shockers. The Bears shot a respectable 45 percent from the field overall but were just 2 of 11 from three-point range and trailed 53-28.

Sophomore forward Eddy Kayouloud took over in the second half for the Bears, scoring 20 of his game-high 23 points after the break and helping the Bears play the Shockers nearly even, losing the half just 42-41. The Bears scored the second-most points allowed by the Shockers this season. 

The Bears finished the game with a season-high 30 turnovers, after a previous season high of 28 in their last game against Prairie View on Nov. 23.

"It was just a tale of two halves,' said UCA head coach Russ Pennell. "The first half, we didn't play with a lot of energy or a lot of passion. But I thought the second half we played with a little more urgency, like we were embarrassed, which we should have been at halftime.

"I told them that I'm proud that they would fight back like that, but the troubling part for me is you don't have to get embarrassed before you do that. And we have to learn that. We have the talent, I think we have the pieces, we're seeing them do some good things in practice... but for whatever reason, we're doing things like missing free throws and turning it over. It's kind of bizarre some of the things that are happening. But it all starts with your energy and your effort.'

The Bears shot 51.9 percent from the field in the second half and went 6 of 10 from three-point range. UCA actually shot better for the game than WSU but the Shockers (7-1) took 25 more shots than the Bears due to the +14 turnover differential.

"We have to quit beating ourselves with certain things,' said Pennell. "We made some silly turnovers. We had 30 turnovers and I would dare say that 15 to 18 of them were self-induced, just throw the ball to the wrong team. It wasn't even their pressure. 

"As I told them, that's 30 times we went down the court and didn't get to shoot the basketball. So them scoring 39 points off our turnovers, you basically before the game just said make it 39-0 and put it up on the scoreboard and we're going to try to come back from that.

"But I was proud of them in the second half. They still turned it over too many times, but boy did they fight. And now what we have to figure out is can you do that each half, then can you do it in multiple games.'

Junior guard Rylan Bergersen followed Kayouloud with 14 points, while junior center Hayden Koval had 9 points, 5 rebounds and 4 blocked shots and junior Jared Chatham added 9 points.

UCA takes on Utah at 4 p.m. (CST) on Saturday.