BEAUMONT, Texas. _ All five starters scored in double figures for the University of Central Arkansas Bears on Wednesday night but it was not enough in a 74-67 loss to the Lamar Cardinals in Southland Conference play at the Montagne Center.

The loss broke a two-game winning streak for the Bears (7-16, 6-6) and moved the Cardinals (11-11, 6-6) into a tie with UCA in the SLC standings.

UCA survived a 13-0 run by the Cardinals in the first half and pulled to within 34-28 at the break. In the second half, the Bears would get as close as three points on a slam dunk by junior center Hayden Koval with 2:27 remaining, but could not get over the hump.

"It just seemed like a broken game, all the way through,' said UCA interim head coach Anthony Boone. "We'd do a couple of things here, and then we were just OK there. We just couldn't put it all together.'

The Cardinals made 17 of 25 at the free-throw line commpared to 6 of 8 for the Bears. Eleven of those free throws came in the second half for Lamar. The Cardinals made 7 of 8 at the line in the final 1:49 to seal the victory.

Koval led the Bears with 14 points, including a pair of three-pointers. Junior point guard DeAndre Jones had a double-double with 12 points and a season-high 10 assists, while Eddy Kayouloud and Rylan Bergersen had 11 points each and Jaxson Baker added 10

"I think Lamar kind of slowed it down a little bit and we kind of fell into that a little bit,' said Boone. "At times we picked up the pace and we were able to go on a couple of runs. But we kind of fell in that trap and could never dig ourselves out of it.'  

UCA was just 7 of 26 (26.9 percent) from three-point range while Lamar finished 7 of 17 (41.2 percent). Anderson Kopp topped the Cardinals with 14 points, hitting 9 of 12 at the free-throw line. He was one of four Cardinals in double figures.

The Bears continue their road trip at McNeese on Saturday afternoon in Lake Charles, La.