CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears did some good things in their season opener on Thursday night, just not enough of them to overcome the No. 5/8 Missouri State Bears at First Security Field at Estes Stadium.

The visiting Bears jumped out to a 17-0 lead at halftime and held off the home Bears 27-14 in front of a crowd of 10,277.

UCA's defense dominated MSU's offense on the opening series of the game, holding the Bears to minus 12 yards on three plays.  After going three-and-out themselves, UCA forced another punt on MSU's second possession, then drove down to the MSU 17 before missing a 35-yard field goal.

From there, MSU had a drive end in a fumble and then scored three consecutive times, with a 36-yard field goal by Jose Pizano, a 5-yard scoring run by quarterback Jason Shelley and a 10-yard touchdown pass from Shelley to Hunter Wood with just 35 seconds remaining in the first half.

UCA got it to midfield late in the half but junior quarterback Will McElvain was intercepted at the MSU 41. McElvain, a transfer from Northern Iowa, completed 18 of 31 passes for 173 yards, with a touchdown and pair of interceptions in his UCA debut. 

"Man, our guys played hard,' said UCA head coach Nathan Brown. "I think we're going to continue to get better. There were a lot of new faces getting shots tonight. We know we can play with them, and they're good. I think that's the sentiment in our locker room right now, just the frustration that if the ball bounces our way here or there, we just get Shelley down on one or two of those scrambles... and we had him close and pinned up. Then maybe it is a different game.

"But I thought our defense played a whale of a game. They held their offense to 20 points, and held them to field goals. Just played really, really good all night. So I'm really encouraged in that aspect. "

MSU added another Pizano field goal late in the third period before the Bears finally got on the scoreboard to open the fourth quarter. McElvain took it 12 yards for his first UCA touchdowns with 12:21 remaining.  That was shortlived as Montrae Braswell returned the ensuing kickoff 98 yards for a clinching touchdown. 

McElvain found redshirt freshman Myles Butler with a 7-yard touchdown pass with 9:35 left to play. Hayden Ray's kick cut the UCA deficit to 27-14.  The Bears took advantage of an MSU fumble by Jahod Booker that UCA transfer linebacker Corley Hooper fell on at the MSU 13.

The Bears had two more shots, with one ending in an interception and the final drive dying with an incomplete pass in the end zone with 1:05 on the clock.

Sophomore running back Darius Hale, a freshman All-American and the ASUN Freshman of the Year last season, finished with 99 yards rushing on 18 carries, while fellow sophomore Kylin James added 84 more yards on just eight carries, along with three receptions for 23 yards.
 

"I think in the second half they (MSU) could pin their ears back because they knew we were going to be one-dimensional," said Brown. "We were just trying to get in the game and didn't mix in a ton of running game, which probably hurt us in the second half, because we had to. That's just the product of us putting ourselves in that situation.

"But this team, I'm very encouraged by. Obviously at time, we looked like a very good football team, and then at times we didn't. And that's frustrating. I was disappointed in some of our breakdowns on specials teams, the kick return. That was really a backbreaker after we had a little momentum. And obviously missing two field goals didn't help us.

"All in all, a lot to build on. We'll get better from this. The fun part about that is, you get to go play Ole Miss now. That's a little bit of a daunting task, but again, one we'll be excited about. It's a long season, we've got 10 more shots."

Shelley completed 18 of 30 passes for 266 yards and one touchdowns and was sacked four times by UCA defenders, including twice on the opening possession of the game. All-American Ty Scott caught eight passes for 160 yards for the visiting Bears.

"Shelley was hard to get down at time," said Brown. "I thought we contained him for the majority, probably three quarters of the game. But he was able to squirt loose a couple of times, and that's why he is who he is. He's had a ton of success doing that.  

UCA finished with 341 yards of total offense, including 168 on the ground.  Sophomore Chandler Caughron averaged 43.5 yards on six punts. Sophomore safety Tamuarion Wilson topped the UCA tackle chart with eight solo stops and a forced fumble, while sophomore transfer defensive end David Walker had four tackles for loss  (-14 yards) and a pair of sacks. 

UCA hits the road for three consecutive games next Saturday, taking on Ole Miss in Oxford, Miss. Kickoff at Vaught Hemingway Stadium is 6 p.m.