CHICAGO, Ill. _ Thirteen three-pointers was not enough for the University of Central Arkansas Bears to overcome a cold start Wednesday night in an 85-70 loss to the Loyola Chicago Ramblers at a raucous Gentile Arena.

The Bears (4-4) opened the game making just two of their first 10 shots and fell behind by as much as 11 points before closing the half on a 15-6 run to get within 35-31 at the break. For the half, UCA ended up shooting a respectable 40 percent overall and made five three-pointers.

"They came out and I think we got rattled with the environment here," said UCA head coach Anthony Boone. "We haven't faced this quite yet. Wichita State was a decent environment, but this was totally different. All these people right on top of you, it was really loud, and I believe we got rattled there.

"But our guys stuck with it cut it to four at halftime. And the second half, the same thing, They went on a push and we stuck with it and at one point cut it to four again. But we told our guys, it's hard when you get knocked around like that, it takes so much energy and so much focus to come back, that by the end of the game, it's hard to have anything left in the tank to finish off the comeback." 

The second half started much as the first had, with LUC scoring the first seven points before UCA got consecutive three-pointers from senior Eddy Kayouloud and freshman Johannes Kirsipuu and worked its way back into the game. Another three from Kirsipuu closed the gap to just four points at the midway point of the half.

But the Ramblers, who had lost four consecutive games, all on the road, found their range in their return home and made seven of their 12 three-pointers in the final 20 minutes to put the game away.  UCA was 8 of 15 from beyond the arc in the second half and finished 13 of 29 (44.8 percent), their second highest total of the season.

"Early on we weren't giving them some really good, clean looks," said Boone, "but they got some stuff in the paint. And then later on once they found their stroke, it didn't matter if we were guarding them or not.  They got confidence and they were knocking them down."

Kayouloud was one of three Bears with three three-pointers, going 3 of 5 and scoring a team-high 21 points. Kirsipuu was 3 of 6 from the arc, while sophomore guard Camren Hunter was 3 of 7 and scored 11 points. Junior guard Collin Cooper made a pair of three-pointers and finished with 13 points.

Loyola got 26 points from guard Ben Schwieger, who was 6 of 7 on three-pointers, and 19 more from guard Braden Norris. For the game, the Ramblers shot 54.5 percent overall and 52.2 percent from three-point range, after shooting just 25.9 percent from the arc entering the game.

"They've got a great roster and they have a great (coaching) staff here," said Boone. "And they are poised to do well I think. They're working on figuring it out and I think they are well on their way to doing that."

UCA returns home next Tuesday to face in-state rival Arkansas State at 7 p.m. at the Farris Center.