CONWAY -- Arkansas State overcame Central Arkansas' early second-half flurry and earned an 89-77 victory Friday night at the Farris Center.
Senior guard Devin Carter led the Red Wolves (9-2) with 20 points and made four three-pointers. Junior guard Deven Simms had 19 points. Sophomore guard Connor Kern and junior forward Tamas Bruce each added 10 points.
Under first-year coach Grant McCasland, ASU has won 9 of its past 10 games. Its only loss during that span was 77-54 at TCU on Dec. 3.
On Friday, ASU shot 49.2 percent (32 of 65) from the field and made 10 of 27 (37.0 percent) from three-point range.
Senior guard Derreck Brooks led the Bears (1-10) with 12 points. Junior guard Jordan Howard and senior guard Jeff Lowery each had 11 points.
ASU led 44-39 at halftime. But the Bears opened with the second half with a 13-2 run to take a 54-51 lead with 14:30 left.
The Red Wolves regained the lead at 64-61 on a jumper by C.J. Foster and a layup by Connor Kern. ASU extended its lead to 72-61 on three-pointers by Kern and Simms. UCA ended ASU's 17-2 run with a layup by freshman Aaron Weidenaar.
Carter gave ASU its largest lead, 82-68, by hitting his fourth three-pointer with 3:53 left. UCA pulled within 82-75 with 2:09 remaining on Lowery's layup.
But ASU extended its lead to 85-75 with two free throws by Donte Thomas with 1:06 remaining. Darraja Parnell's layup cut the lead to 85-77 with 53.1 seconds left.
Rashad Lindsey's two free throws with 50.3 seconds remaining stretched ASU's advantage to 87-77. UCA tried to get closer, but Parnell turned the ball over and Thomas hit two free throws for an 89-77 lead with 43.8 seconds left.
The Red Wolves trailed 8-5 early, but used a 13-0 run to take an 18-8 lead.
UCA cut the lead to 22-17, but ASU stretched its lead to 28-17 with 9:17 remaining in the half on Foster's layup. Foster was fouled on the play by Weidenaar, but couldn't complete the three-point play.
Carter's three-pointer gave ASU another 11-point lead in the first half, 36-25.
ASU shot 51.4 percent (18 of 35) from the floor in the first half and made four three-pointers. UCA was 12 of 30 (40 percent) in the first half.
The Red Wolves and Bears each have two games coming up in the next seven days before they both begin conference play in the Sun Belt Conference and Southland Conference, respectively. ASU travels to Huntsville, Ala., on Wednesday to face Alabama in the Rocket City Classic and to Minnesota on Friday. UCA heads to Morehead State on Monday and Arizona State on Thursday.
Sports on 12/17/2016