LAKE CHARLES, La. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears will try to complete the season sweep against one of the best shooting teams in the Southland Conference on the road Saturday afternoon.

The Bears take on the McNeese Cowboys at 3:30 p.m. in a key Southland Conference matchup at the H&HP Complex.

UCA beat McNeese 79-69 back on Jan. 4 at the Farris Center, but now stand one game behind the Cowboys in the SLC standings. UCA is 6-6 and in sixth place while McNeese is 7-5 in fifth. Both teams have eight conference games remaining.

In the first meeting, the Bears got 26 points from hot-shooting junior guard DeAndre Jones, who nailed 6 of 7 from three-point range and 8 of 8 at the free-throw line. As a team, the Bears connected on a season-high 14 three-pointers, shooting 56 percent from beyond the arc. Three other Bears (Jared Chatham, Jaxson Baker, Aaron Weidenaar) scored 11 points each as UCA ran out to a 44-30 halftime lead and then made five threes in the second half to hold off the Cowboys.

McNeese is currently the top shooting team in the conference, overall (50.9 percent) and from three-point range (41.5 percent). The Cowboys average a league-best 8.8 three-pointers a game, led by the top gunner in the nation in junior guard Dru Kuxhausen, who is shooting 50.5 percent from beyond the arc with 95 threes on the season. He is on pace to set the school and SLC three-point records.

The other key cog in the Cowboys' attack is senior forward Shamarkus Kennedy, a four-time SLC Player of the Week this season who ranks fourth in the league in scoring (17.8 points per game) and first in both rebounding (10.2) and field-goal percentage (67.0 percent).

In the first meeting, Kuxhausen played only 18 minutes and scored 14 points due to injury. Kennedy was held to nine ponts and 7 rebounds and battled foul trouble in 25 minutes of action. McNeese shot 41.7 percent overall and 37.5 percent (9 of 24) from three-point range while turning it over 21 times, leading to 25 points for the Bears.

UCA had its two-game winning streak broken on Wednesday night at Lamar, while McNeese is riding a two-game losing streak, with losses to Lamar at home and at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

The Bears had all five starters score in double figures on Wednesday but could not overcome a huge deficit at the free-throw line. Lamar was 17 of 25 at the foul line while UCA was 6 of 8. Jones finished with a double-double, with 12 points and 10 assists for the Bears, who had just nine points off the bench.

The game will be carried live on The Bear 91.3 with Justin Acri following the Sugar Bears' home contest against McNeese.

UCA returns home next Wednesday night, hosting the New Orleans Privateers, who beat the Bears 86-78 back in January at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans.