Jan 30th, 2007 09:43PM
by:

By STEVE EAST
UCA SID

CONWAY — The University of Central Arkansas Bears did what they had to do Tuesday night in a 75-58 victory  over the University of Central Arkansas Eagles in nonconference action at the Farris Center.

The Bears (8-14), taking a break from Southland Conference play, played just well enough to win their second straight game. UCA had four players in double figures — none scored more than 12 points — and shot 45.3 percent from the field.

The Bears won the game with defense, holding the NCAA Division III Eagles (6-13) to 28.4 percent shooting from the field and 56.5 percent (13 of 23) from the free-throw line. The Bears’ inside duo of senior Fernando Johnson and junior Durrell Nevels completely shut down Ozarks’ leading scorer Habeeb Kareem. The junior came in averaging 15.8 points but was 0 of 12 from the field and went scoreless.

Johnson blocked four shots and Nevels three as the Bears intimidated the smaller Eagles inside. Nevels tied two others for scoring honors with 12 points and added 8 rebounds. Seniors Fred Campbell and LeMar Phillips added 12 points each and junior Nate Bowie chipped in 10 points and a career-high 7 assists. Phillips had a game-high 9 rebounds and Johnson added 8 as the Bears dominated the boards with a season-high 55 rebounds.

The Bears opened the game with an alley-oop dunk by Nevels and Johnson blocked Kareem’s first shot attempt of the game. From there, the Bears ran out to an 8-0 lead before the Eagles scored. Ozarks missed its first eight shot attempts and eventually trailed by as much as 12 points in the first half.

UCA got a dunk from Johnson and a pair of free throws by sophomore Mitch Rueter at the midway point of the second half for a 57-32 lead, the largest of the game.

Sophomore guard Jeremy Clark led the Eagles with 14 points and 4 assists, while sophomore guard Ted Beard added 10 points and was 2 of 2 on 3-point attempts. For the game, Ozarks made 7 of 17 from beyond the arc (41.2 percent).

UCA returns to SLC play on Saturday when it travels to Natchitoches, La., to take on defending league champion Northwestern State. Tip-off is 2 p.m.