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CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears are back at home at the Farris Center on Wednesday to face the Queens Royals in Atlantic Sun Conference action.
The Bears and Royals will tip-off at 6:30 p.m. on Scottie Pippen Court.
UCA received another setback, injury-wise, last week when lone senior
Elias Cato missed the North Alabama game with a hamstring injury. That is in addition to leading scorer
Layne Taylor knocked out for the season two weeks ago with a shoulder injury.
In their absence, the Bears (6-17, 2-8) got a career-high 25 points from sophomore guard
Brayden Fagbemi. UCA made 13 (of 29) from three-point range, with Fagbemi going 7 of 9, the first Bear to make seven threes in a game since Thatch Unruh did it against Stephen F. Austin in 2018.
The issue was UNA shot 57.8 percent overall on its home court, and went 14 of 30 from the arc.
The Bears and Royals will be meeting for the first time in Conway, and third time overall. UCA won the first meeting 92-91 in Charlotte, N.C., in 2023 and Queens took a 96-79 victory last year, also at Curry Arena.
In the most recent matchup, Queens made 10 three-pointers and got 28 points from A.J. McKee as one of four Royals in double figures.
Masai Olowokere had 16 points for UCA. Queens outscored UCA 51-34 in the first half but the teams played evenly (45-45) in the second half.
This season, the Royals are 14-9 overall and 7-3 in league play. They are in a four-way tie for second place with Lipscomb, North Alabama and Jacksonville. Senior 7-foot graduate Malcolm Wilson, a Georgetown transfer, leads the nation in blocked shots with 84. Their leading scorer is also a graduate transfer, Leo Colimerio from Fresno State who averages 13.3 points per game and scored a career-high 35 points against Florida Gulf Coast.
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