Feb 10th, 2007 10:03PM
by:

By JOSH GOFF
UCA SID ASSISTANT

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — For a half Saturday at Johnson Coliseum, the University of Central Arkansas Bears, shooting 56.5 percent from the floor, threw a scare into the hottest team in the Southland Conference.

 Then, Sam Houston State Bearkats (17-7, 9-2), having knocked off the league’s two division leaders in the last week, rekindled their flame and burned UCA for 46 second-half points on 60 percent shooting to pull away for an 81-68 win.

The Bears (8-17, 2-9) led 39-35 at the half.

“Our guys came out and shot the ball well,” UCA coach Rand Chappell said. “That first half was a testament to the character of this team – coming to work every day, working hard, sticking together and wanting to be good. But, I think the second half was a testament to where (Sam Houston’s) program is and where ours wants to be. They had kind of maturity and toughness about them on their home floor, and we didn’t react as well as I’d hoped.”

The Bears bolted out of the gate, hitting their first nine shots en route to a 20-13 lead with 13:55 to go in the first half. Junior guard Nate Bowie, getting the start with center Fernando Johnson out with injury, had nine of his 15 points in that span.

 The teams battled back and forth the remainder of the half, with SHSU getting its first lead with 8:42 to go in the half on a C.J. Hadley 3-pointer. UCA regained the lead 50 seconds later on a Marcus Pillow layup and held on — taking a four-point lead, 39-35, into the locker room.

The second half was a different story as SHSU – a prolific 3-point shooting team – found the shooting stroke that had eluded them in the first half, as they hit 60 percent (18 of 30) from the floor and 54.5 percent from outside (6 for 11) in the second half as it wrestled the lead away from the Bears. SHSU went 12 for 19 (63 percent) inside the arc.

 “In the past we’ve let some guys get down the lane and we had Fernando Johnson back there to change shots and clog the lane,” Chappell said. “Tonight, when they got down there we didn’t have anybody in there to clog the lane or take a charge. We’ve got some adjustments to make without our big clogger in the middle.”

 Ryan Bright’s jumper with 16:52 to play to put the Bearkats ahead 43-41, and UCA never recovered.
 That basket sparked a 12-2 run, ending with a Shamir McDaniel 3-pointer that pushed SHSU to a double-digit lead at 53-43. Pillow cut it to six a few moments later, but another 10-0 SHSU run over the next 2:40 to put the Bearkats ahead 66-50.

 The lead swelled to 21 on a Hadley layup with 3:52 to go, but the Bears chipped away in the final minutes – ending with a layup by Drew Haymaker with 11 seconds left to set the final margin of 13.

 Bowie, Pillow and Durrell Nevels all scored 15 points to lead UCA’s scoring charge, with Fred Campbell adding 11. Ryan Bright, who had 27 points on nine of nine shooting in SHSU’s last game, led the Bearkats on Saturday with 14 points.

Mitch Rueter led UCA with eight rebounds, while Bright had nine to lead the Bearkats – who outrebounded UCA 39-33.

UCA committed 15 turnovers with 10 coming in the second half where the Bearkats outscored UCA 46-29.

“In all I thought it was pretty good production,” said Chappell. “We scored 68 points and shot in the 40-percent range. We had good ball movement, and I thought Marcus Pillow had his best game in awhile. We had five freshman out of our 10 guys and I thought all of them came out tonight and did a respectable job.”