CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears fell behind by double digits at halftime, staged a huge second-half rally but ultimately dropped a 96-79 decision to the Queens Royals on Wednesday night in Atlantic Sun Conference action at Curry Arena.

The Bears (7-15, 3-3) trailed by 17 at the half as the Royals (8-13, 2-4) shot 51.3 percent from the field and made eight three-pointers while scoring 12 points off UCA's eight turnovers. Then UCA came out of the locker room and put together two big scoring runs _ including a 19-5 burst _ and cut the deficit to just five points at 71-66 with eight minutes remaining.

But the Royals began drawing fouls from a tiring Bears' squad and pulled away down the stretch. Queens went 15 of 18 at the charity stripe in the second half, and made 18 of 24 (75 percent) for the game. 

"It was really unfortunate that we got off to such a slow start," said UCA head coach Anthony Boone. "We thought we had a pretty good scheme, what we wanted to do defensively. But we just didn't have the effort we needed to have on the defensive end. And even though it was a slow start offensively, too, overall we scored enough in this game. 

"Just too many big stretches of the game that our defense just really let us down, and that was really disappointing."

UCA had four players in double figures, led by senior Masai Olowokere and junior Elias Cato with 16 points each. Freshman Tucker Anders added 13 points and graduate Daniel Sofield had 11. The Royals made 10 three-pointers to UCA's six, with Chris Ashby hitting 5 of 8 from beyond the arc.

Cato, who went 5 of 8 from the field and scored 12 of his points in the second half, also had a team-high 8 rebounds. Olowokere had a team-best four assists and Tucker had a career-high four steals.

"The guys were just a little bit more intent (in the second half) and had a little bit better effort and really focused more," said Boone. "It was more so our defensive intensity than anything. But it was just too little, too late. The guys made a great push in the second half there, and if we had had that kind of intensity from the beginning, it would have been a different game.

UCA finished with 17 turnovers, the most since it had 20 at Missouri on Dec. 30. 

"You're not going to get any points when you don't have any shots," said Boone. "We can't have empty possessions like that with how well we can shoot the ball."

A.J. McKee led the Royals with 28 points, one of four players in double figures.

The Bears now return home for three consecutive games, beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday when they host defending ASUN champion Kennesaw State. The Owls lost at home to North Alabama on Wednesday night to drop to 4-2 in conference play.