FLORENCE, Ala. _ Wednesday night's game was a superb example of a "next man up" mentality for the University of Central Arkansas Bears in their matchup on the road against North Alabama.

Already missing two starters from the lineup, and with another going down with an injury in the opening two minutes, the Bears gutted out an 81-72 victory over the Lions at Flowers Hall that completed the season sweep and secured the No. 3 seed from the ASUN West Division for next week's ASUN Tournament. WIth that comes a home game at 6 p.m. Tuesday on Scottie Pippen Court at the Farris Center.

Junior Darious Hall missed his third consecutive game due to injury and freshman Ibbe Klintman was out for the second straight game due to illness. Sophomore guard Collin Cooper, who started his 38th career game, lasted less than two minutes before exiting with a sprained ankle.

"This was a huge win,' said UCA head coach Anthony Boone. "We've had some impressive wins at UCA over the years, but as far as what I thought was a gritty, grind-it-out dogfight, and to come out with the win, I thought this was the most impressive one, being down so many guys.' 

Sophomore Masai Olowokere stepped into the starting lineup for just the second time this season, and rarely left the court, playing 38:36 productive minutes. He scored 13 points and had a career-high 7 rebounds. Sophomore Jaxson Baker played 33:48 minutes off the bench and had 5 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists. Sophomore Lewis McDaniel had four points in 10 valuable minutes as part of a limited guard rotation.

The rest of the damage was done by the trio of freshman point guard Camren Hunter, junior forward Eddy Kayouloud and graduate forward Jared Chatham. The three combined for 57 points, 29 rebounds and 8 assists, while all playing at least 35 minutes.

"Coming in down two guys already, it was going to be tricky to begin with,' said Boone. "And the Coop getting hurt almost immediately... it was all hands on deck, all brains in the center to come up with how we keep our guys on the floor as long as possible without wearing them out.

"And our guys really stepped up. Cam had an incredible game, and really grew up I think as a point guard. He showed signs last game _ he's showed signs all season _ but tonight, some of his decisions, especially coming down the stretch, were just huge. And were signs of more of a junior or senior point guard leading his team. He looked like that more tonight than he has at any point of the season.

"And the rest of the guys followed and played their parts and we got a huge win.''

The Bears, who beat UNA in 89-88 in overtime back in January at the Farris Center, led for 37:05 on Wednesday night, including a 10-point (47-37) halftime advantage. Kayouloud had 17 points and 6 rebounds, and was 3 of 6 from three-point range in the opening 20 minutes.

"Eddy was huge, expecially that first half,' said Boone. "We really needed him, especially with Coop getting hurt. We really needed Eddy. And sometimes I look up and I say we aren't going to him enough, and we get into halftime and I get the stat sheet and see he has 17. So I guess we did go to him enough.

"Eddy was great. He has spectacular games and then there's times when I don't think he's doing all that great and he still has a really good game. He was big tonight, and all our guys stepped in and did a great job tonight.'

UCA had its biggest lead of the game, 15 points, early in the second half, before UNA closed to within four points midway through the half, and cut the deficit to just six points with 3:10 left. But UCA got a rebound basket by Hunter, a layup by Kayouloud and a pair of free throws from Olowokere to seal it.

Chatham, who was held to just two points in the first half, scored 10 in the decisive second half and finished two rebounds short of a double-double. Kayouloud was one rebound short of another. Hunter was one point and one rebound shy of tying his career highs.

"Jared is pretty smooth,' said Boone. "And at one point, Cam actually said 'we've got to get the ball to Jared, what can we do?' And I said let's do this, this and this, and Cam got on the floor and got it to Jared. And Jared stepped up. And I thought Jaxson (Baker) was great with his leadership, also. And Cam was huge.'

North Alabama got 31 points (six three pointers) from Daniel Ortiz but he had to take 28 shots for that total. The Lions shot just 38.5 percent from the field. UCA shot 48.4 percent overall and made 12 of 14 (85.7 percent) at the free-throw line. The Bears also won the rebound battle 42-34.

The Bears will close out the regular season on Saturday afternoon at Lipscomb, the team directly behind them in the West standings. However, UCA's win coupled with Lipscomb's loss at Bellarmine on Wednesday, gives the Bears the West No. 3 seed. UCA will host the No. 6 team from the East, either North Florida or Stetson on Tuesday night.