BEARS FACE DOWN COWBOYS IN OVERTIMME

LAKE CHARLES, La. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears dominated overtime on Saturday in taking an important 82-76 victory over the McNeese Cowboys in Southland Conference action at the H&HP Complex.

UCA (8-16, 7-6) outscored McNeese (12-12, 7-6) in overtime, including a 3-for-3 performance from three-point range, to sweep the season series with the Cowboys and pull even in the SLC standings. The Bears connected on 13 threes, after hitting a season-high 14 in the first victory over the Cowboys back in January. In the extra period, sophomore Eddy Kayouloud hit twice and senior Aaron Weidenaar made the third as the Bears won just their second overtime game of the season in six tries, and first on the road.

"It was a great college basketball game,' said UCA interim head coach Anthony Boone. "I would imagine it was fun to watch with how fast-paced we were playing in the first half. Our guys just kept their composure. That's what I just told them, they did a great job keeping their composure. When we lost the lead, it would have been easy to hold their heads and say, well we had it but we don't have it anymore.

"But they came back and guys made big plays. There at the end of regulation we couldn't get one but then we started overtime and Eddy made a couple of, maybe ill-advised shots, but they were open. And that's what we always tell the guys... if you're going to shoot it, it needs to go in. So shoot it with that in mind, that it's going to go in.'

The Bears had all five starters score in double figures for the second consecutive game, led by junior guard Rylan Bergersen with 21 points. Kayoulouyoud and junior point guard DeAndre Jones both had double-doubles. Kayouloud finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds, while Jones had 10 points and 11 assists for his second straight double-double. Jones has 21 assists in UCA's past two games. 

UCA's defense on McNeese guard Dru Kuxhausen was a big key as the nation's top three-point shooter finished 2 of 10 from long range and 4 of 15 overall for just 12 points. Shamarkus Kennedy, a four-time SLC Player of the Week this season, led the Cowboys with 22 points and 21 of the team's 45 total rebounds.

UCA had 21 assists on 29 made baskets and turned the ball over a season-low nine times.

"That was great,' said Boone. "We talked about playing faster, and we did a couple of things in practice yesterday to promote that. And the guys did it really, really well and really took that to heart. We watched film of our last couple of games and saw the difference with our team right now and a few games ago. And the guys just really brought it. I'm so proud of these guys. Their effort was incredible.'

The Bears led by as much as 14 points in the first half but had to settle for a 42-37 lead the break as their perimeter shooting cooled off late in the half. Still, UCA was 8 of 20 from three-point range in the opening 20 minutes. UCA held the lead until the 7:25 mark when McNeese tied it on a Myles Hutchinson basket. The Cowboys grabbed as much as a six-point lead down the stretch _ their first since the opening minutes of the game _ before UCA closed regulation with an 8-2 run to tie it at 70-70. Bergersen's baseline dunk, off a pass from Jones, knotted it up.

UCA then opened overtime with three consecutive threes, two from Kayouloud and a third from Weidenaar, to go up 79-74 midway through the extra period. Koval had a layup off Jones' 11th assist, which tied his career high, that gave the Bears an 81-74 advantage with 1:49 left. Kennedy put in a rebound for McNeese and Jones added 1 of 2 at the free-throw line for the Bears with 30 seconds left to set the final.

"When it got to overtime we just said, look, let's re-establish ourselves and play solid defense, we're going to push the ball up the floor,' said Boone. "We did that for a couple of minutes, and once we got the lead, then we played time and score and slowed it down a little bit. That was it. 

"We were thankful that the guys got it to overtime. We were down and we could have given up. We just said re-establish ourselves and this is our game.'

Koval, who picked up his fourth foul with 9:24 to play but never fouled out, scored 12 points and pulled down 7 rebounds. Redshirt freshman Jaxson Baker, who made a pair of three-pointers, finished with 10 points as UCA won its third game in the past four.  

The Bears return home to host New Orleans at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Farris Center.