CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears saved their best game of the season for Senior Day, taking down the No. 1 team in the Southland Conference on Saturday night at the Farris Center.

UCA got a combined 47 points from two of those seniors to hand Abilene Christian an 84-82 loss, just its second of the Southland Conference season. The Bears, in the process, broke a 10-game losing streak with big games from seniors Rylan Bergersen and Jared Chatham. Bergersen, a 6-6 guard from Boise, Idaho, had a career-high 26 points and 7 assists, including a huge slam dunk off a rebound early in the second half as the Bears overcame a 13-point halftime deficit and outscored the Wildcats 48-33 in the second half.

Chatham, a 6-8 forward from Los Angeles, Calif., ignited the second-half comeback, scoring eight of the Bears' first 10 points of the half and finishing with 21 points. A key late rebound by Chatham gave him his fifth double-double of the season with 10 boards.

The down-to-the-wire victory put an end to a frustrating month for the Bears, who's last win came back on Jan. 6 against New Orleans at the Farris Center. 

"Before going in and talking to the guys (after the game), I had to take a minute, because I'm so excited for them,' said an emotional head coach Anthony Boone. "I told those guys... I don't want to say I'm proud of them because I don't want to take credit away from them. Yes, we as a staff did things to prepare them and all, but they've had so much resolve. They had so much go wrong this year that is out of their control. With covid, with injuries, with illnesses, with how our schedule was imbalanced in conference. 

"All those things weren't fair, but they have very stern resolve and they came to play tonight. And it's all because of them.'
 

ACU had dominated UCA 93-58 in the first meeting of the season on Jan. 23 in Abilene, outscoring the Bears 54-33 in the second half.

The Bears turned the tables Saturday, shooting 63.3 percent (19 of 30) from the field in the second half and holding the Wildcats to just 39.3 percent. ACU (19-4, 11-2) connected on 8 (of 13) three-pointers in the opening 20 minutes and led by as much as 17 points left with 4:35 left in the half. But the Bears opened the second half with a 12-3 run to get right back in the game.

Chatham was a big part of that, scoring 18 of his 21 points after halftime. The Bears caught and eventually overtook the Wildcats on a layup by sophomore Khaleem Bennett with 8:40 left to play. A three-pointer from junior Eddy Kayouloud and a reverse layup by Chatham kept the Bears in front until ACU tied it with a three-pointer at the 2:55 mark. Kayouloud made 4 of 4 at the free-throw line over the next minute to put UCA up by four before Airion Simmons closed it to two points at 83-31 with 1:00 to play.

Damien Daniels made 1 of 2 at the line to make it a one-point game with 37.7 on the clock. Kayouluod answered with 1 of 2 as well with 10.2 left. Damien Daniels attempted a jumper in the lane but it was blocked by Bergersen. Joe Pleasant's rebound attempt also missed as UCA secured the victory.

"These young men that we are blessed to work with are incredible,' said Boone. "And despite everything that's gone on, we as a staff have tried to stay positive and our message has been consistent every day. Everything is still in front of us and we have to keep working every day. And these guys did. And there were games we thought we played pretty good in and just fell short. And there were some games where we fell flat on our faces.

"But tonight, even when we were down 17, I told one of the assistants that I felt like we were playing pretty good. And I look up at the scoreboard and we're down 17. But we were doing everything we wanted to do. We knew that eventually that would be what would give us the best chance to win. And we had a number of guys step up. Everybody that went in the game did what they were supposed to do.' 

Kayouloud finished with 13 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals for the Bears, while Bennett added 11 points. Senior center SK Shittu had 5 points and 6 rebounds and battled ACU's 7-foot center Kolton Kohl for 29 minutes and help hold him to just 3 rebounds. UCA's fourth senior, record-setting point guard DeAndre Jones, missed his 11th game since a season-ending knee injuryl, ironically in the win over New Orleans on Jan. 6

UCA had only 13 turnovers after 25 in the previous matchup.
 

"Rylan had an incredible game,' said Boone. "And we had a game plan that he really didn't stray from, and that was why we had a chance to win at the end. The plan was to have Rylan play the point the majority of the time and just control the game. And he did a great job of doing that, not letting us get sped up, not letting us get too out of control. That was exactly why we didn't turn it over much.'  

The Bears will now have a quick turnaround with the SLC's No. 2 team Stephen F. Austin coming to town for a Monday afternoon (3 p.m.) matchup at the Farris Center. UCA is also at home Wednesday night, hosting Southeastern Louisiana at 7 p.m.