CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas survived a lightning delay and a resurgent Arkansas-Pine Bluff squad and pulled away for a 45-23 victory in their home opener on Saturday night in front of a fired-up crowd of 11,527 at First Security Field at Estes Stadium.

The No. 24/25 Bears (1-2) jumped put to a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter before the weather delay stopped play for 45 minutes. UCA settled for a 28-9 halftime lead, thanks to four touchdown passes by junior quarterback Breylin Smith, tying his career high in just 30 minutes of action. Smith also completed his first 15 passes to break the school record of 14 straight held by his head coach Nathan Brown (2007) and Brian Stallworth (2001).

Smith, who finished 31 of 42 (73.8 percent) for 329 yards, overcame a pair of interceptions on consecutive possessions in the third quarter to lead the Bears on two fourth-quarter touchdowns drives that sealed the victory. UCA beat UAPB for the 11th consecutive time to improve to 11-2 in the series.

"I was pleased with our team,' said Brown. "Bottom line is, we came out hot. If you look at the possession time, I think we held the ball for 13+ minutes in the first quarter, turned them over on special teams play and I think their one possession in the first quarter was a three and out. So we were up 21-0 before we blinked.

"And that's what set the tone of the game. I was really pleased to see our team respond that way. One, because of coming off a tough loss, does that lag into this week is the question you always ask yourself as coaches. But I couldn't have been more pleased with all phases of our game. Our coaching staff really put in a lot of time and effort this week to beat a good football team.'
 
The Bears, who lost a shootout at Top 25 Missouri State last Saturday, rolled up a season-high 456 yards of total offense and held the ball for 37:38, including a whopping 13:24 in the first quarter. UCA also converted 12 of 17 third-down situations and held UAPB to just 1 of 10 on third down. 

Smith tossed touchdowns passes to sophomore receiver Christian Richmond (7 yards), senior tight end Sam Camargo (3 yards) and senior receiver Tobias Enlow (7 yards) on three consecutive possessions to open the game. He then connected with sophomore receiver Tyler Hudson for a 19-yard just before halftime to tie his career high. 

UCA senior placekicker Hayden Ray nailed a 32-yard field goal early in the third quarter to push UCA's lead to 31-9 before UAPB mounted its comeback. The Golden Lions (1-1) turned the back-to-back interceptions into touchdowns, the second behing a 49-yard pick six by Andre Fuller that got UAPB within one score at 31-23 with 4:50 left in the third quarter.

But UCA freshman running back Darius Hale added a pair of short touchdowns runs over the final 7:50 to seal the win. Hale, from Pearland, Texas, led the Bears with 76 yards on 19 carries, with fellow freshman Trysten Smith adding 59 yards on 15 attempts. Former UCA Bears Kierre Crossley, a graduate transfer at UAPB, led the Golden Lions with 82 yards and a pair of touchdowns on just seven carries.
 

"They (UAPB) showed a tremendous amount of fight to continue playing,' said Brown. "And I didn't think we handled the lightning delay and halftime very well at all. The third quarter showed it. They got after us in the third quarter. It was unfortunate how we played there but I thought we responded well in the fourth quarter. To win the fourth quarter, basically 14-0, was huge. 

"We had our backs against the wall, it got to a one-possession game. And our guys responded, and that's what you expect good teams to do. And I still think we have a good team.'

Defensively, UCA was very good, holding UAPB to 308 total yards of offense, with quarterback Skyler Perry completing just 13 of 32 for 173 yards. UCA junior nickelback Deandre Lamont filled up his stat sheet with five tackles, an interception, a fumble recovery and blocked point after. Senior linebacker Trenton Dunn led the Bears with a career-high 13 tackles and forced the fumble the Lamont recovered.

Richmond, Winningham, Hudson and Enlow combined for 23 receptions for 275 yards.

UCA continues its homestand next Saturday, hosting defending FCS national champion Sam Houston at 4 p.m. at Estes Stadium. UCA, a new member of the ASUN, and SHSU, new member of the WAC, are familiar old foes from the Southland Conference and have staged some classic battles since 2006.