Feb 23rd, 2007 01:06AM
by:

By STEVE EAST
UCA SID

HAMMOND, La. — The Southeastern Louisiana Lions survived several scares Thursday night, holding off the University of Central Bears 66-63 in Southland Conference action at the University Center.

The Bears (8-20, 2-12) got close to upsetting the Lions on their home floor, cutting an 11-point, second-half deficit to just one point in the final seconds.

“It’s a little bit of a broken record, but our guys really battled again," said UCA Coach Rand Chappell. “We made some plays in the second half that we didn’t in the first half and we got some shots to go in the basket.

“We got it back to one point at the four-minute mark and it was anybody’s game down the stretch.  Unfortunately they executed a little better thatn we did in a couple of spots. The last one didn’t go in for us."

The Bears, down by as much as 13 points in the first half and 11 in the second half, made it exciting in the final minutes. UCA cut an 11-point deficit with seven minutes remaining to a single point with four minutes left. A 10-0 scoring run by the Bears included a 3-pointer by freshman Marcus Pillow, two baskets by junior Durrell Nevels and was capped by an inside basket by sophomore Mitch Rueter.

The Bears held the Lions scoreless for 3:15 during their run but Southeastern’s senior-laden team knew how to answer. Four straight points gave the Lions a 61-56 lead with 2:10 left but the Bears were not through either.

Nate Bowie made a free throw and Michael Cyprien hit a pair for the Lions for a 63-57 lead. Bowie then nailed a 3-pointer, his second of the night, to close the gap to 63-60 with 37.6 seconds left. Bowie then trapped SELU’s Terry Bryant in the corner and thought he had a jump ball but was instead called for a foul with 32.5 remaining. Bryant made one shot at the line for a 64-60 lead.

Rueter then popped a 3-pointer from the right wing with 17 seconds left to make it 64-63. The Bears fouled Bryant and he made both free throws with 15.2 seconds left. UCA got a 3-point attempt from Pillow that rimmed out. Senior Fred Campbell rebounded and got it to Bowie on the wing, but his shot was off the mark as well. Rueter got one more attempt at the buzzer but it missed, too.

The Bears trailed by 10 at halftime (38-28) as the Lions shot 60 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes and had only three turnovers. UCA was down by 13 several times before DaMarcus Bell dunked in the final seconds.

“We got off to kind of a rocky start," Chappell said. “We seemed to forget a few of the things we had talked about in practice early in the game. And they have a really good offensive team and they shot the ball extremely well in that first half."

Pillow, a 5-foot-11 guard from Russellville, led the Bears with 18 points, hitting 3 of 7 from 3-point range. Rueter followed with 13 points and 9 rebounds, while Nevels added 12 points and 11 rebounds.

The Lions, who shot only 37 percent in the second half, got 18 points from junior Kevyn Green, the nephew of former Los Angeles Laker A.C. Green. Senior forward Joseph Polite scored 16.

UCA plays at Nicholls State in Thibodaux, La., at 5 p.m. Saturday. Nicholls upset SLC East leader Northwestern State 93-92 on Thursday.