CONWAY, Ark. _ A school-record 19 three-pointers carried the University fo Central Arkansas Bears to a 96-86 victory over the Lipscomb Bisons on Thursday night at Allen Arena.

UCA, now 3-1 in the Atlantic Sun, shot better from three-point range (61.3 percent) than it did overall (53.3 percent), hitting 19 of 31 from beyond the arc. The previous school record was 18 threes in an overtime loss at UCLA in 2017. The season high was 15 at home against Champion Christian on Jan. 3.

Six different Bears connected from three-point range, led by freshman Tucker Anderson who was 6 of 10. Graduate Daniel Sofield and senior Masai Olowokere were both 4 of 4 from the three-point line, while sophomore Carl Daughtery Jr. and junior Elias Cato each added a pair and sophomore Johannes Kirsipuu made one.

"Way better to come out on top," said UCA head coach Anthony Boone. "This was a really big win for us. Lipscomb is really, really good. They're a team that a lot of people picked to be near the top or at the top of the ASUN. And it's big to win on their floor.

"The guys made up their minds that it was going to be a really good effort tonight, and they came out played their tails off." 

The Bears were 11 of 17 from the arc in the opening minutes and led 52-40 at halftime. Anderson and Olowokere combined to go 7 of 8 from three-point range and had 15 and 13 points, respectively, in the first half. 

The hot shooting never tailed off in the second half as the Bears were 8 of 14 (57.1 percent) in the final 20 minutes. Despite that, the Bisons (11-8, 2-2) turned their 14-point deficit into a one-pointer on three occasions but the Bears withstood every run. After the Bisons got to within 85-84 with 3:30 left, the Bears finished the game on an 11-2 run to put it away.

The Bears led for 36:23 of the game and never trailed after the 16:00 mark of the first half. It was the most points by the Bears against an NCAA Division I opponent this season, surpassing the 84 points in a win at North Alabama.

"I didn't want to jinx anything,' Boone said, "but we shot the ball really well yesterday when we were in here (at practice), and again this morning in our shootaround. And then we shot the ball well when we were worming up.

"And I thought the same thing when we played (and won) at North Alabama. When we were there, we shot the ball well the night before. And to carry it the whole game this time _ it wasn't just the first half _ was big. And we needed it because LIpscomb is really good. We played pretty solid defense and they still shot a pretty good percentage overall."

Anderson, a freshman from Bentonville West High School, had a career-high 26 points, hitting 6 of 10 from three-point range and 8 of 12 overall. Olowokere, UCA's lone senior, tied his career high with 16 points, going 5 of 6 overall, and added 3 rebounds and 3 assists. Sofield, a graduate transfer, had a perfect night, going 4 of 4 from three-point range and 3 of 3 from the free-throw line when he was fouled on a three-point attempt.

UCA had 22 assists on its 32 field goals _ from nine different players _ and outrebounded Lipscomb 35-25. Lipscomb, which had won two straight ASUN games, shot a respectable 51.7 percent overall, 34.8 percent from three-point range and 78.3 percent from the free-throw line. But they were outscored by 11 from beyond the arc after entering the game allowing just 7.6 three-pointers per game.

Lipscomb, which lost by five points at Arkansas back in December, had six players in double figures, led by Cody Head with 20 points. 

UCA continues its road trip on Saturday, taking on Austin Peay at 4:15 in Clarksville, Tenn.  APSU beat North Alabama in overtime on Thursday night to improve to 2-2 in league play.