RICHMOND, Ky. _ An uncharacteristic spate of turnovers for the University of Central Arkansas Bears on Thursday night ruined any chance of an upset as the Bears fell 74-58 to the Eastern Kentucky Colonels at Baptist Health Arena.

UCA, which had averaged just 8.2 turnovers over the past seven games, turned it over a season-high 23 times against the third-place Colonels, who improved to 11-4 in ASUN Conference play. EKU is now 13-1 at home on the season, and drew just a game behind second-place Liberty.

"(Turnovers are) something that we've really focused on over the last couple of weeks," said acting head coach Brock Widders. "And we've really executed and taken care of the ball time and time and time again. So obviously surprised to see it tonight, very frustrated to see it. 

"I know I've referenced these two stats a lot, but if you are going to turn it over at that rate, 23 turnovers, and you're going to give up 19 offensive rebounds, you're not going to win any ballgames."

UCA's turnovers were unfortunately coupled with cold shooting as the Bears finished at 36.4 percent overall and made just four of 23 three-pointer attempts (17.4 percent). EKU was not much more accurate at 40 percent overall and 12 percent (3 of 25) from three-point range, but made the most of its extra possessions, scoring 23 points off turnovers. 

The Colonels also outscored the Bears 15-6 at the free-throw line, going 15 of 27 while UCA was 6 of 8. Two Bears fouled out, including UCA's second-leading scorer, senior Eddy Kayouloud, with 6:22 to play. Kayouloud was held to 14 points and 8 rebounds after coming off his fifth double-double of the season and 12th of his career  last Saturday in a win over Austin Peay.  

"We just talked about it in the locker room, I don't know about our focus," said Widders, "our focus needs to be checked. I thought it was good going into the game, I thought it was good in pregame. I thought we had some guys locked in. But I think the performance and the play proved otherwise."

UCA's leading scorer sophomore Camren Hunter was held to 9 points and 6 rebounds. Hunter scored 25 points in the first meeting with the Colonels, a game EKU held on to win 77-75 back on Jan. 5 at the Farris Center. The Bears also shot 46.3 percent in the game and made 10 three-pointers.

"We want to be smartly aggressive, we want to take advantage of their pressure," Widders said. "And ultimately what we ended up doing was just throwing the ball all over the floor. Again, with 23 turnovers, you aren't going to win basketball games."

The Bears continue their Kentucky road trip with a Sunday afternoon (3 p.m.) meeting with Bellarmine in Louisville. UCA finishes the regular season with a pair of home games next week, against Jacksonville State on Wednesday and against league-leader Kennesaw State on Friday.