Feb 19th, 2007 06:14AM
by:

UCA SID OFFICE

CONWAY — The McNeese State Cowboys and the University of Central Arkansas Bears traded free throws in the final two minutes Saturday night but the Cowboys got the final two.

Sophomore forward John Pichon made a pair at the line with nine seconds left to send the Cowboys to a 58-55 victory in front of a crowd of 1,910 at the Farris Center.

The victory completed the season sweep for McNeese State (11-15, 6-6), which won in overtime in Lake Charles, La., back on Jan. 18.

This one was just as close as the Bears (8-19, 2-11) took a 55-54 lead when junior guard Nate Bowie made two free throws with 1:02 remaining. Quentin Gonzales answered with a short lane jumper for a 56-55 Cowboys lead with 48 seconds left.

UCA missed a shot but McNeese point guard John Ford dribbled off his foot in front of the UCA bench and the Bears got the ball back. The Bears missed again and fouled Pichon on the rebound. He hit both for a 58-55 lead.

The Bears inbounded and went the length of the floor but Bowie misfired on a 3-point attempt. Sophomore Mitch Rueter rebounded for UCA but he came down on the end line with .4 seconds left. The Cowboys rebounded and ran out the clock to win their second consecutive game.

UCA junior forward Durrell Nevels finished with 14 points, a career-high 14 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. Bowie was the only other UCA player in double figures with 14 points. Rueter had a career-high 11 rebounds to go with his six points.

The Bears jumped out to an 11-point lead in the first 10 minutes (17-6) before the Cowboys closed the gap to six points at halftime, 28-22. McNeese finally tied it at 36-36 on a dunk by Jarvis Bradley, who finished with 12 points on 4 of 12 shooting.

From there, neither team led by more than four points the rest of the way.

The Bears shot 34 percent for the game while the Cowboys hit only 31.3 percent. UCA outrebounded McNeese 44-40 but had 20 turnovers to the Cowboys’ 10.

Ford led the Cowboys with 16 points, while Aldryan Wardell had 7 points and a team-high 10 rebounds.

UCA travels to Hammond, La., to take on Southeastern Louisiana at 7 p.m. Thursday.