CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears are officially 1-0 on Scottie Pippen Court.

The Bears jumped out to a 38-21 halftime lead, then held on to knock off the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles 70-67 in Saturday's debut of the new court, named for UCA's most famous alumnus and six-time NBA champion with the Chicago Bulls. 

UCA (1-3) used stellar defense and balanced scoring to beat ORU, which lost to Arkansas in the NCAA Sweet 16 last season. The Bears held ORU's leading scorer Max Abmas to just 8 points on 3-of-18 shooting. ORU's Issac McBride, from Baptist Prep in Little Rock, made up much of the difference for the Golden Eagles (2-2), scoring 25 points, including 21 in the second half.

But the Bears scored just enough in the second half, including five free throws in the final 8.8 seconds from junior transfer Darious Hall and Collin Cooper. Hall led the Bears with 19 points and pulled down a career-high 16 rebounds as UCA won the battle of the boards 44-37. UCA freshman guard Camren Hunter of Bryant added 17 points and 8 rebounds, while Cooper scored 13 points, including a huge stretch of three consecutive three-pointers in the first half.

"It was great. I wasn't sure how we were going to handle it because we're not accustomed to playing at home this early in the season,' said UCA head coach Anthony Boone. "But our guys were so energetic, so excited to be playing at home, excited for the new court. The atmosphere was electric, it was an incredible environment.'

UCA trailed 17-13 with 9:34 left in the first half before the Bears put together a 25-4 run to close out  the half. UCA was 6 of 14 (42.9 perccent) from three-point range in the half, including five straight by Cooper (3), Camren Hunter and Jaxson Baker over a 2:30 span that pushed a 21-17 lead to 36-21.

Abmas, who averaged 24.5 points per game a year ago, went 0 for 12 in the opening, and missed his first 15 field goal attempts. ORU was 1 of 10 from three-point range at halftime and finished 6 of 28 (21.4 percent).

"Our guys were locked in defensively, that was mostly what it was,' said Boone. "We did make some shots, which was great because we haven't done that very well yet this year. But it was defense and rebounding, that's what got it for us.'
 

The Golden Eagles fought back behind McBride in the second half and got to within 52-50 with 6:00 minutes left. UCA then scored eight straight points, with baskets from four different players (Hall, Cooper, Hunter, Eddy Kayouloud). McBride's two free throws with 9.1 seconds left made it a one-point game at 68-67 but Cooper's final two free throws sealed it. Abmas then missed twice at the line with 2 seconds left. 

"The situations we were in there at the end, we practice those over and over,' said Boone. "And we can't simulate the game as much in practice, but the guys were accustomed to it and they were comfortable. It was great to see them step and make all those free throws.'

Hall, who played previously at Arkansas and DePaul, had been through stressful situations before. His 16 rebounds was his season-high by six and gives him 26 in his last two games.

"It's huge for us,' Boone said of Hale's play. "No. 1, how he rebounded for us today. Darious always talks about how well he jumps and I told him I haven't seen that yet. But today he was really feeling it. He had a lot of energy and was making plays defensively and on the offensive end. That was huge. A lot of times it was right at the right time for us.'

UCA hits the road for three games in three days at New Orleans, playing the host Privateers on Wednesday, Virginia Military Institute on Thursday and Presbyterian on Friday.