KATY, Texas –  A lock-down defensive effort down the stretch gave the University of Central Arkansas Bears their first Southland Conference Tournament victory on Wednesday night and let them play another day at the Merrell Center.

The seventh-seeded Bears held the sixth-seeded Lamar Cardinals to just seven points over the final 11:41 of the game to win going away 67-57 in first-round action. UCA, which fell behind by as much as nine points early in the second half, outscored Lamar 22-7 from that point to advance to Thursday’s second round against No. 3 seed Stephen F. Austin at 7:30 p.m.

“Really proud of the effort and proud of our win and the fact that we get a chance to play again tomorrow,’ said UCA head coach Russ Pennell. “It feels good. I was real excited for our guys. That was a big goal that they had this year, to make the tournament and then at least win a game. The thing I like, they were celebrating in there, but they keep saying three more, three more. And I like that. I love that enthusiasm.’

Surprisingly, the Bears earned it on the defensive end after besting the Cardinals 100-91 in double overtime in their first meeting this season in Beaumont, Texas. UCA held Lamar to just 37.1 percent shooting from the field and just 15.4 percent (4 of 26) from three-point range. In the two games this season against the Bears, Lamar has shot 8 of 57 (14 percent) from beyond the arc.

“I think it was the type of game that maybe we needed, it was just a gut-check,’ said Pennell, who brought his team to the SLC Tournament for the second consecutive year, a first for UCA’s men’s program. “We got down and we took a time out and and I grabbed Mathieu Kamba and I said ‘You’re a senior and your career is about to end. You need to do something. And from that point on, he was light’s out.

“I was really happy with that, for (seniors) Jordan, Mathieu and Ethan, that was such a big win. I thought our guys showed what I’ve been seeing all year, kind of the change in our program. And that is some grit and toughness. I thought when we got down eight, we took the time out and you could see they weren’t ready to go home yet. And that was probably the thing that was most encouraging to me.’

UCA senior Jordan Howard, named the SLC Player of the Year on Monday, finished with a game-high 26 points, going 9 of 10 from the free-throw line, including 6 of 6 in the final 47 seconds. Freshman Matthew Mondesir finished with 12 points, while Kamba and junior Thatch Unruh had 11 each. But more importantly, a combination of Mondesir, Kamba and senior Ethan Lee held Lamar’s first-team All-SLC forward Colton Weisbrod to just five points after he scored a career-high 38 in the first meeting. He made 16 free throws in the first game and one on Wednesday.

“That was an interesting game from our perspective,” Pennell said. “Because as we build this program, you have to go through different steps. Last year when we were here, I thought we were just glad to be here.  And I even felt yesterday in practice that there was a different feel about our team, because these guys, especially Mathieu and Jordan and Ethan, who have been here before, they fully intended on coming down here and winning this first game.

“I saw that determination and I saw that grit. And I thought really the details of that was, our defense was really good. I thought the defense and the rebounding is what helped us, and we had some timely buckets. And obviously when we can get Jordan to the free-throw line, that’s almost as good as automatic every time.’

The Bears, outscored 17-6 to start the second half, fought their way back into the game with two baskets by Unruh, layups by Kamba and Mondesir and a jumper by Howard that tied it at 50 at the 10-minute mark. From there, it was all UCA, with the Bears getting a key three-pointer and a rebound basket from 7-foot freshman center Hayden Koval in a span of 1:30. Over the final 1:25, Kamba put in a rebound basket and Howard nailed six free throws in a row to end it.

“When we got down nine and took the time out, I got on them a little bit,’ said Pennell. “But I challenged them more that you’re letting an opportunity slip through your hands. And I knew it wasn’t anything more than effort. It wasn’t like their schemes or our lack of schemes. It was just we had to give a little bit more effort.

“So for us to do that, and win it on that (defensive) end of the floor, was really, really phenomenal.’

UCA and SFA split the two regular-season meetings, with the Bears winning 100-92 in Conway on Jan. 24 and the Lumberjacks getting a 97-62 win on their home floor on Feb. 21. The winner of that quarterfinal game takes on No. 2 seed Nicholls State at 7:30 Friday in the semifinals. The SLC championship game is set for 8 p.m. Saturday on ESPN2.

MOREHEAD, Ky. – A gutsy comeback by the University of Central Arkansas Bears was thwarted at the free-throw line by Morehead State on Saturday afternoon as the Eagles held off the Bears 98-94 in overtime at Ellis Johnson Arena.

UCA (6-6) fought back from a 21-point second-half deficit in the final 14 minutes to force overtime on a dunk by 7-foot freshman Hayden Koval with one second remaining in regulation, off a nifty inbounds pass from fellow freshman DeAndre Jones. But the Eagles, who made 19 of 23 at the free-throw line in the second half, connected eight times in nine tries in the extra period to hold off the Bears and even the season series at 1-1. UCA held off MSU 82-78 last month in Conway.

“This is one of those bittersweet games,’ said UCA head coach Russ Pennell. “If you play the entire game like you did the last 12 minutes, you probably win this game by 15. We have to learn and mature as a team to understand that it’s a 40-minute game, you’re playing sin omebody else’s house… I tried to paint this picture, the way we felt playing Little Rock the second time is exactly the way Morehead felt today. They wanted revenge. They pretty much thought they should have won the first game in Conway.

“I always believe as a coach, you have to understand your opponent. I think that’s critical. I need to think like they are thinking as a coach, and impart that wisdom to our team. We did that but we didn’t heed it, and that’s the disappointing part. The good part is we fought back. We really competed. I thought guys really stepped up and made some plays, and I thought the freshmen were outstanding.’

The Bears were ice cold in the first half, opening the game 2 of 10 and hitting just 26.9 percent overall and making just 2 of 10 from three-point range. UCA trailed by as much as 16 points at the 4:10 mark and were down 34-20 at the break, their lowest scoring half of the season, beating the 28-point effort against South Carolina State on Nov. 21. UCA also turned the ball over 13 times and was outrebounded 22-15.

UCA had scored 39 first-half points in their earlier win over Morehead State at the Farris Center.

After the Eagles pushed their lead to as much as 21 points in the first five minutes of the second half, senior guard Jordan Howard started an 8-0 run for the Bears with a three-pointer and redshirt freshman Jared Chatham scored twice off the bench to get UCA within 51-38 with 13:00 left. The Bears would eventually tie the game at 71-71 on a three-pointer by Koval with 1:38 remaining. Free throws allowed the Eagles (4-6) to grab the lead again before a tip-in by senior Mathieu Kamba got the Bears with 78-76 with 18.1 seconds left.

The Eagles turned the ball over but UCA misfired on a shot attempt. However, MSU’s Djimon Henson attempted to run the baseline on the inbounds play, giving UCA the ball back under its own goal. Jones found Koval charging down the lane for the assist as Koval tied it with the dunk, just his second basket of the game.

Thatch Unruh gave the Bears an early lead with a three-pointer in the opening seconds of overtime before MSU took control again. A three from Howard got UCA to within 94-92 with under 30 seconds remaining but MSU got a dunk from Malek Green and a pair of free throws from Jordan Walker to seal it.

“We just have to understand that this is game where you can’t take plays off, you can’t take minutes off, and you certainly can’t spot your opponent a 21-point lead on their court,’ said Pennell. “I thought the first six or seven minutes, we got some great looks but just didn’t make them. And then I thought we kind of tried to wake up, and I’ve seen this so many times. Usually when a team is flat, they understand they are flat, but then they over compensate.

“And what I thought everyone did was they went off on their own. We took some bad shots, we rushed some shots, we made errant passes four rows up (in the stands). And it was just trying too hard. But where the maturity came in was after halftime. I talked to them a little bit, and didn’t really jump on them much. I left them alone and said you guys solve this. And I thought they came out with a different look and played more like the UCA teams we’re used to.’

UCA was a different team in the final 20 minutes of regulation and overtime. The Bears shot 55 percent from the field in the second half and made 6 of 16 from beyond the arc. But it was not enough to overcome a big discrepancy at the free-throw line. MSU finished the game 30 of 37 (81.1 percent) at the line, with Jordan Walker going 11 for 11 and Londell King 8 of 9.

The Bears, who lost to No. 20 UCLA 106-101 back in November in their only other overtime game this season, scored 58 points in the second half and an additional 16 in overtime after scoring just 20 in the first half. Howard, who arrived in Morehead early Sunday morning after graduating from UCA on Saturday, topped the Bears with 32 points and six assists, his seventh career game with at least 30 points, and second this season after scoring 35 at UCLA.

Senior Mathieu Kamba added 19 points and 9 rebounds for the Bears, while senior Thatch Unruh had 10 points. Jones finished with 5 points, five assists and three steals after a career-high 16 in the first meeting with the Eagles.

UCA continues its road trip at Oregon on Wednesday night. Tipoff is 10 p.m. (CT) from Matthew Knight Arena. The Bears will then have a break before Southland Conference play begins on Dec. 28 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at the Farris Center.