NATCHITOCHES, La._ The University of Central Arkansas Bears are heading back to Katy, Texas, for postseason play for the third consecutive season after Saturday's 70-63 victory over Northwestern State at Prather Coliseum.

In a win-or-go-home matchup, the Bears came out on fire, running out to a 41-21 halftime lead over the Demons. But NSU, also fighting for its postseason life, came back and made it interesting down the stretch, closing the gap to just two points at 59-57 with three minutes remaining. The Bears then outscored the Demons 13-6 the rest of the way, including eight points at the free-throw line, to grab the victory.

"I'm so proud of this group,' said UCA's fifth-year head coach Russ Pennell. "Three years in a row you get to go to Katy. And this one is really sweet because we were dead in the water a couple of weeks ago. But they just didn't give in and they just kept battling. Even this game, it was tough. These guys (Demons) are better than what they played the first half and we knew what was going to happen. They were going to come right at us (in the second half).

"I was a little disappointed we couldn't score there for a long stretch in the second half, and we turned it over too much. But we righted the ship, we made the plays when we needed to and made free throws and we're moving on.'

The Bears were 5-2 in SLC play on Jan. 23 before a seven-game losing streak knocked them back in the pack. Two victories to end the regular season, including an upset of No.1 Sam Houston State on the road last Wednesday, put them back in the mix.

Saturday's game was an exact opposite of the first meeting between the teams in February at the Farris Center. NSU had the big first half, leading 51-27 at halftime, only to see UCA come back and it tie it late before falling 80-75.

"We did the same thing, we were down 24 at the half and we came roaring back,' said Pennell."And it's really, really difficult to come back from a deficit that big and then win, because you spend so much energy just getting it close. And then everything has to break right. What you have to do when you have the lead, and it's a fine line, you don't want to play loose with the ball but you can't play cautious with the lead. 

"I'd rather have an eight-point lead than sometimes a 20-point lead because it's easier to keep your aggressiveness.' 

Senior guard Thatch Unruh was once again the Demons' nemesis, hitting the 30-point mark for the second consecutive time against NSU. Unruh, who scored a career-high 33 points in the first meeting, added 30 more Saturday, going 10 of 16 from the field and 5 of 6 from three-point range.

Unruh also became the 20th player in UCA history to join the 1,000-point club and he did it early, hitting his first three three-point attempts in the opening four minutes of the game to end the suspense.

"I knew I was eight points away going in and I wanted to get it just in case this was the last game or something,' said Unruh, a fifth-year senior from Branson, Mo. "But I wasn't going to press for it, I was going to let it come to me. And I hit three threes and was like, 'well, that's that.' But I really wasn't worried about that, I was worried about keeping our season alive, keeping the tournament hopes alive. So that's what I'm most happy about.'

Unruh connected three times from three-point range to give the Bears an 11-2 lead less than four minutes into the game. He finished the first half with 12 points as UCA shot 45.2 percent, including 7 of 15 from beyond the arc, and held NSU to just 25 percent (7 of 28 and 0 of 9. For the game, the Demons shot 30.3 percent overall and 4 of 22 (18.2 percent) on their home floor.

"Thatch came out and played like a senior should, like he didn't want it to end,' said Pennell.

The 20-point halftime was shortlived as the Bears came out and went scoreless for the first eight minutes of the second half, allowing the Demons to cut the margin to 43-38. Unruh then reeled off 12 consecutive points to give the Bears' their cushion back, at least for a little while. But the Demons nailed three straight three-pointers and got to within two points twice, the last time with 3:30 to play, before UCA closed it out.

The Bears earned their third straight trip to the SLC Tournament at the Merrell Center in Katy, with first-round games set for next Wednesday. UCA, as the seventh seed, will play No. 6 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 7:30 p.m. 

"Everybody is 0-0,' said Pennell. "It's the teams that are hot. I would think we are about as hot as anyone as far as the way we've played. It's going to be a lot of fun. It's an exciting time.'