CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas dominated another second half Wednesday night in downing the New Orleans Privateers 73-68 in Southland Conference play at the Farris Center.

UCA (9-16, 8-6), down by eight at halftime, outscored UNO 42-29 in the second half, led by 15 points from junior guard DeAndre Jones and 13 from junior guard  Rylan Bergersen to win its fourth game in the past five. Bergersen and Jones, former high school teammates from Boise, Idaho, led the Bears with 21 and 20 points, respectively. UCA's defense held the Privateers (7-17, 3-11) to 37-percent shooting in the second half after they hit at a 48.3-percent clip in the opening half.

"Our defense was incredible (the second half),' said UCA interim head coach Anthony Boone. "I think they (Privateers) made some really good shots in the first half, so that kind of skewed the stats a little bit. But the second half we were pretty good, and we were better offensively and that helped us to set up our defense a little bit better.

"I'd like for us to own the first half and the second half, but our guys, they don't shirk from challenges. When we're down, we keep fighting, and that's become a characteristic of these guys. Before, we weren't quite that way but these guys have toughened up, they've matured. They took the coaching at the half and they put it on the floor.'  

The Bears got a corner three-pointer from Bergersen at the buzzer to cut an 11-point deficit to just eight points at the half after a somewhat up-and-down shooting half.

"We didn't know that we were going to get that good of a look,' said Boone. "We had DJ slicing _ he first sliced the wrong way and probably set it up a little bit better. He sliced it back and we threw a pass and the defense wasn't there. He gathered it and our guys ran the floor and Rylan was wide open in the corner and made a great play. 

"That was a huge boost going into halftime. A really good play by DJ and a really good shot by Rylan.'

From there, UCA used a 14-3 run in the second half to take control of the game. UCA took its first lead of the game at 53-52 when Jones put in a leaning jumper from the free-throw line with 9:40 to play, capping the big scoring run. From there, neither team led by more than four points until Jones scored five straight, two at the free-throw line and a three-pointer for a 70-63 UCA advantage with just 1:32 to play.
 

The Privateers, who beat the Bears 86-78 back on Jan. 8 in New Orleans, got a pair of inside baskets and a free throw to cut the margin to just 71-68 with 35 seconds on the clock. After a five-second call on the Bears' inbound attempt gave the ball back to the Privateers, Bergersen partially blocked a three-point attempt by Bryson Robinson and the ball went out of bounds to the Bears after an official's review. 

Aaron Weidenaar was fouled and made both free throws with 7.4 seconds left to set the final.

Junior guard Troy Green led the Privateers with 19 points while Robinson, the SLC's second-leading scorer, had 16 and was just 4 of 12 from the field. 

"Rylan was great offensively,' said Boone. "But on the defensive end, he was incredible. He was tasked with guarding Robinson quite a bit and Robinson had an off night, and mainly because of Rylan guarding him. We told them after the game, Rylan was our MVP. We had a lot of guys who played well, but Rylan was our MVP tonight.'

UCA shot 56 percent in the second half _ after 35.7 percent in the opening 20 minutes _ and made 11 of 15 at the free-throw line in the half (19 of 25 for the game). UCA had 10 turnovers in the first half but just two in the second. The Bears also outrebounded the Privateers 36-33. Junior center Hayden Koval had a double-double with 11 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. Weidenaar and Jared Chatham both had five rebounds off the bench. UCA won despite going 6 of 22 (27.3 percent) from three-point range, after hitting 13 threes in last Saturday's overtime win at McNeese.

The Bears head to Huntsville, Texas, on Saturday for a return match with Sam Houston State at Johnson Coliseum. UCA beat SHSU 89-82 in the first meeting at the Farris Center in January. The Bearkats are just ahead of the Bears in fourth place in the SLC standings. 

"We have a tough rest of the schedule, some tough road games,' said Boone, whose Bears improved to 6-2 at home in conference play. "When we have some at home, we're here, get to sleep in our own beds, get comfortable, we have to take care of business. So it was huge to win this one tonight.'