CONWAY, Ark. _ An historic comeback produced an historic victory for the University of Central Arkansas Bears on Tuesday night on Scottie Pippen Court at the Farris Center.

UCA, the third seed from the ASUN East Division, overcame a 14-point second-half deficit and outscored Stetson 44-33 in the second half to advance in their first ASUN Tournament with a 74-73 victory over the Hatters. The Bears, who got a career-high 21 points from sophomore guard Collin Cooper, including 17 in the second half, will take on West #2 Jacksonville at 6 p.m. Thursday at Swisher Gymnasium.

"It was all the guys, their effort,' said UCA head coach Anthony Boone. "After getting down, they hung with it, the guys on the court and the guys on the side. And the crowd in here was incredible. I don't know if I've ever experienced a home crowd like this.

"And that helped a great deal. It energized our guys and made their guys a little nervous. I tell you what, I didn't want to be that young man shooting free throws.' 

Stetson's Christiaan Jones misfired on two free throws that would have tied the game or given the Hatters the lead with just .9 seconds left.

Cooper, from Fayetteville, made 5 of 8 from three-point range in the second half, including a run of 11 points in three minutes that gave the Bears their first lead of the second half with 5:20 to play. Then after Stetson took a 73-71 with 22.6 remaining, Cooper drained another three with 9.1 left for a 74-73 lead.

UCA fouled Stetson's Jones with .9 on the clock but the graduate guard missed both free throws as the Farris Center crowd celebrated the first home postseason win at the Farris Center in the NCAA Division I era.

The Bears were just 1 of 13 from three-point range but connected on 6 of 15 in the second half. Stetson shot 55.2 percent overall in the first half and made 5 of 9 from beyond the arc. They opened the second half with an 8-4 run to push their lead to a game-high 14 points with 17:45 remaining. But the Bears chipped away over the next 10 minutes and got to within six points with 7:30 remaining.

"(The message) was keep shooting,' said Boone. "And have confidence. And it's easy once you see a number of shots not fall, to then start to question whether we should be (shooting). But the message was to keep getting those looks, and knock them down. And focus a little more on trying to get the ball in the paint. And then we'll get some inside-out looks.

"And it's great to seem them start to go in.'

Cooper finished with a career-high 21 points, while junior Eddy Kayouloud added a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Junior Darious Hall chipped in 13 points. Stetson had five players in double figures, led by Jones and Stephan Swenson with 13 points each, and Wheza Panzo and Chase Johnston with 12 apiece.

UCA and Jacksonville will face off for the second time in a month. The Dolphins won the first meeting 79-59 on Jan. 29.

The Bears won a postseason road game in the CBI Tournament in 2018 but lost in the second round at home for the only postseason game at the Farris Center in the Division I era.

"If I said it didn't feel good, I'd be lying,' said Boone. "But more than anything, I'm thankful for these guys, the effort they put in day in and day out. I really feel more thankful than anything that I get to be here at UCA, that I get to work with these guys. And I get to experience the things that they do on and off the floor.'

UCA earned the third seed from the West Division in its inaugural year in the conference. Now the Bears are in the quarterfinals with a chance to avenge an earlier loss.

"We've been through this before as a team this year,' said Boone. "Quite a bit actually. We have a lot of experience with that. I think the guys, knowing that we've done it before, and the energy they brought, and the crowd was ridiculously loud and energetic. And I think all of that together gave the guys enough juice to keep doing what we were doing.'