CONWAY, Ark. _ A huge offensive burst to open the second half carried the University of Central Arkansas Bears to a 79-75 victory over the Stetson Hatters in ASUN Conference action Saturday afternoon on Scottie Pippen Court.
 
UCA outscored Stetson 17-4 to start the second half and did not allow a point for the first four minutes of the half to stake itself to a 50-35 lead. The Hatters (10-11, 4-6) rallied late and got within three points at 78-75 with with 15 seconds remaining, but UCA (7-15, 4-5) made just enough free throws down the stretch to hold on for the victory. 

Junior forward Eddy Kayouloud was a force on the offensive end for the second consecutive game, scoring a game-high 24 points and adding 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals. He was coming off a 34-point, 17-rebound effort in an overtime loss to Florida Gulf Coast two days before. 

Graduate forward Jared Chatham had his second double-double of the season with 18 points and 11 rebounds, including six on the offensive end. Freshman point guard Camren Hunter scored 16 points and sophomore Masai Olowokere had 10 points and two timely three-pointers.

"I don't know, he's in some kind of zone,' said UCA head coach Anthony Boone said of the 6-foot-7, 230-pounder from Paris, France. "He's making great decisions. He played quite a bit (of minutes) tonight and only had one turnover. That's what I'm most excited about. We know what he can do with the ball, we know he's hard to guard. But the decision making, getting a couple of assists, and then only turn it over once. Eddy was incredible.'

The Hatters, who had won three of their past four games, shot 48 percent in the first half and held UCA to 41 percent but the Bears still took a 33-31 lead to the locker room. Kayouloud had a lot to do with that, scoring half of his points, including a pair of three-pointers. UCA was 3 of 8 from beyond the arc in the first half while Stetson was 0 of 7.

"Defensively, we had a pretty good effort,' said Boone. "We turned them over a little more than they are accustomed to. We really were closing out on their shooters pretty well. And I thought our guys came out in the second half and really turned it up defensively and got us a lead, and that's why we were able to win. 

UCA's second-half lead reached as much as 18 points at the 9-minute mark on Olowokere's three-pointer from the corner that made it 59-41. But the Hatters got three consecutive three-pointers from sophomore guard Chase Johnston to get back in it. Chatham answered with six points over the next three minutes and Olowokere buried his second three, good for a 74-66 lead at the two-minute mark. 

Hunter put in a layup and he and Collin Cooper combined to make three of six free throws in the final 38 seconds to seal it. The Bears went 9 of 16 (56.3 percent) at the free-throw line after entering the game at 74.6 percent on the season. UCA won the rebound battle for the second consecutive game (35-33), with 13 offensive rebounds that resulted in 15 second-chance points. The Bears also forced the Hatters into 16 turnovers.

UCA shot 54.8 percent from the field in the second half.

Stetson had four players in double figures, led by Stephan Swenson and Christiaan Jones with 20 points each. UCA held Johnston to 4-of-12 shooting and 13 points.

"The guys were really focused, and they understood that we made that the focus,' said Boone. "He's their guy, he's the one that can help them through any kind of stretch, so we had to stay tight on him. After he hit one or two it was tight, and we said, that's good defense, just keep it up because he can't keep that up.'

UCA returns to the road next week, taking on Kennesaw (Ga.) State on Thursday night and Jacksonville (Ala.) State on Saturday afternoon.