Jan 26th, 2007 03:59AM
by:

By STEVE EAST
UCA SID

CONWAY — The Southeastern Louisiana Lions had two players with more than 20 points in a 74-66 victory over the University of Central Arkansas Bears on Thursday night before a season-high crowd of 3,450 at the Farris Center.

Terry Bryant scored a career-high 25 points and Quennell Green added 23 as the Lions (12-7, 4-2) held off the Bears down the stretch and won their fourth straight game. Southeastern shot 52 percent in the second half, including 7 of 11 from 3-point range. For the game, the Lions made 9 of 17 (52.9 percent) from beyond the arc.

Green, a 6-foot-4 senior forward, had just six points at halftime, but came out on fire and tossed in 17 in the second half. Bryant, a 6-1 senior guard, hit 3 of 4 3-pointers and was 6 of 7 from the free-throw line.

The Bears (6-14, 1-6) led 57-56 with 6:30 remaining after a jumper by senior LeMar Phillips, and were tied as late as the 4:05 mark when sophomore Mitch Rueter hit a 3-pointer from the top. But turnovers and missed shots down the stretch doomed the Bears. The Lions made 5 of 7 at the line in the final two minutes to pull away.

UCA, which got 15 points from freshman guard Marcus Pillow, led 39-32 at halftime after shooting 52 percent and getting points from eight different players in the first 20 minutes. The Bears pushed their lead to 11 points on a Pillow 3-pointer with 18:15 left.

From there, the Lions made back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the lead to six, then nailed four more the rest of the way.

Senior guard Fred Campbell had 12 points for the Bears, while junior Durrell Nevels added 10 points and 8 rebounds.

UCA hosts Nicholls State at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Farris Center.