CONWAY, Ark. _ The Bellarmine Knights made eight three-pointers and nailed 11 of 12 free throws in the final 1:15 to hand the University of Central Arkansas Bears a 79-69 loss in ASUN action at the Farris Center on Wednesday night.

The Knights (16-11, 10-3) entered the game in a first-place tie with Jacksonville State for the West Division Iead. UCA (8-17, 5-7) was coming off a road upset of that same JSU team last Saturday and was hoping to do the same to the Knights. But the Bears were ice cold from the perimeter _ just 5 of 21 _ and could not overcome what turned out to be a 15-8 differential at the free-throw line.

Bellarmine swept the season series from UCA, also winning 85-63 back on January 11 in Louisville, Ky.

"We finished pretty good around the basket with Cam (Hunter) and Jared (Chatham),' said UCA head coach Anthony Boone. "They finished really well around the basket. But we got a lot of open looks that normally we would hit quite a few of, but they just didn't fall tonight. 

"We attacked through Cam like we always do, especially in the second half. But we just couldn't get any flow with the shots from outside the three. We were just kind of in between. They were playing kind of in between and I think we were just a little hesitant and questioning ourselves. And we have to fight through that mentally and go ahead and knock them down.'

UCA freshman point guard Camren Hunter scored a career-high 25 points (10 of 17 shooting) and added 4 rebounds and 4 assists. Graduate forward Jared Chatham,who topped the 500-rebound mark for his career last week, added his fourth double-double of the season with 16 points and 13 rebounds. Freshman forward Ibbe Klintman was the only other Bear in double figures with 10 points, hitting two of UCA's five three-pointers.

The Bears led by as much as five points early in the game, but then saw the Knights answer with a scoring run that gave them an eight-point lead with just less than five minutes before halftime. The Bears shot a better percentage than the Knights in the opening 20 minutes but went just 1 of 11 from beyond the arc. Bellarmine was 4 of 12 and took a 30-25 lead at the break.

"Our defense was really good, especially the first half,' said Boone. "As good a player as (Dylan) Penn is, we knew he was going to get going at some point. But overall, our defense was pretty good. '

Bellarmine ran out to a 12-point lead midway through the second half but UCA chipped away and cut the margin to as little as five points numerous times, the last with 3:00 to play on a pair of free throws by Hunter. From there, the Bears were forced to foul and the Knights made them pay, converting 11 of its 15 made free throws in the final 1:16.

Penn, a senior guard, paced Bellarmine with 25 points, after scoring a career-high 38 against the Bears in the first meeting. C.J. Fleming added 20 points, hitting 7 of 8 from the foul line down the stretch.

UCA, which remains in third place in the West Division, continues its three-game homestand on Saturday for Senior Night, hosting Eastern Kentucky at 6:15 following the women's game. The Bears are also at home against East Division leader Liberty on Monday night in a makeup game from January.

The Bears then close the regular season with consecutive road games at North Alabama and Lipscomb.