Jan 19th, 2007 01:43AM
by: Steve East

By STEVE EAST
UCA SID

BEAUMONT, Texas — The University of Central Arkansas Bears’ plan to attack from the perimeter might have worked Thursday night if they could have made some shots.

Instead, the Bears hit only 2 of 19 from 3-point range and shot 32 percent overall in a 62-50 loss to the Lamar Cardinals at the Montagne Center.

UCA drops to 6-12 overall and 1-4 in its first run through the Southland Conference. Lamar broke a two-game losing streak and improved to 8-10 and 2-2.

“I think the bottom line was we didn’t make enough shots,’ said UCA head coach Rand Chappell. “We competed pretty hard and played pretty decent defense, but we were 2 of 19 from 3. Going in they rated at the bottom of the league in 3-point percentage defense, so you thought you might get some good looks.

“And I thought we had shot the ball pretty well in our practices sessions here. But we went out there and we just didn’t make any. You’ve got to make shots to win games.’

The Bears, despite shooting only 35.7 percent from the field in the first half and falling behind by 11 points midway through the second half, fought back to within four at 46-42 with six minutes left. Freshman Marcus Pillow scored four consecutive points on a pair of free throws and a steal and layup.

Sophomore Mitch Rueter scored inside and junior Durrell Nevels tipped in a Rueter miss and was fouled. He made the ensuing free throw to cut the gap to four. From there, the Cardinals made four straight at the line and Lamar Sanders put in a layup to push Lamar’s lead back to 52-42 with 3:50 remaining.

From there, the Bears never got closer than eight points as the Cardinals converted 7 of 8 free throw attempts an Currye Todd tossed in a 3-pointer for good measure to win by 12.

“Like I told our guys, I think we had probably a “C” performance,’ Chappell said. “When you go 8 or 9 hours on the road and play a good program, you can’t expect to play average and win. I’d say they (the Cardinals) played a little above average, not great.

“They gave us chances to hang around but we shot 32 percent from the field and 10 percent from the three-point line and that’s not going to win very often on the road. 

The Bears got 11 points, 9 rebounds and 6 blocked shots from Nevels and 10 points from senior guard Fred Campbell. Freshman Marcus Pillow and sophomore Mitch Rueter, UCA’s top outside scoring threats, combined to hit only 2 of 16 from the field, 0 of 9 from 3-point range.

Lamar’s James Davis, a 7-foot-1 junior center who leads the SLC in scoring, finished with 15 points and 7 rebounds. Sanders, the league’s top rebounder, had 10 points and pulled down 18 rebounds.

“(Davis) went 4 of 12 so we at least made it tough on him,’ Chappell said. “He was 7 of 7 at the foul line, and that speaks pretty good for you when you’re 7-1, 330 pounds. Sanders had 18 rebounds and 14 defensively, so he didn’t let us get many second shots. They’re big around the basket and they’re tough.

“You’ve just got to shoot the ball and play good basketball to win in this situation and we didn’t.’

UCA plays at McNeese State at 3 p.m. Saturday in Lake Charles, La.