It wasn't over until after midnight Thursday morning, but the University of Central Arkansas Bears won't forget how they took 23rd-ranked UCLA to overtime before falling 106-101 at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles.
The Bears (1-2) made a school-record 18 three-pointers, including one by senior guard Jordan Howard that helped send the game into overtime. Howard finished with 35 points, tying his career-high with eight three-pointers. Junior guard Thatch Unruh tied his career high with 20 points, connecting on 4 of 6 from three-point range.
"The thing that pleases me the most right now is my guys [feel] like they just lost the national championship game," UCA Coach Russ Pennell said. "And the thing that makes me happy about that is instead of saying we took this team to overtime, they are feeling like we let one get away. But I was very happy with our effort. I was really happy with the way we competed."
The Bruins made 9 of 10 free-throw attempts in overtime, but UCA kept answering with three-pointers. Howard opened overtime with a three before UCLA reeled off nine consecutive points for a 95-90 advantage. Unruh made two free throws and then a three-pointer to keep the Bears within 97-95 with 1:30 to play. Howard then made back-to-back three-pointers before the Bruins made nine consecutive free throws to hold on.
The Bruins (2-0), 27-point favorites, could never shake the Bears in the second half, despite taking a six-point lead with 6:30 left. The Bears tied the game at 72-72 and again at 75-75 with 2:25 left in regulation. Consecutive three-pointers by Hayden Koval and Unruh kept UCA within 84-83 heading into the final two minutes.
UCLA scored nine of its final 11 points of regulation at the free-throw line. One of two by Aaron Holiday gave the Bruins an 85-83 lead with 20.6 seconds left. Howard then drove the lane for the Bears but was fouled on the floor.
Deandre Jones found Howard in the right corner on the inbound pass and he made the three-pointer to put the Bears up 86-85 with 5.9 seconds left. UCLA freshman Jaylen Hands then got behind the UCA defense and was fouled. He missed the first free throw and made the second to tie it with 1.3 seconds left to send it to overtime.
Mathieu Kamba had 15 points and seven rebounds, while Koval had a career-high 15 points, including four three-pointers, and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.
UCA shot 48.1 percent (38 of 79) from the field and 51.4 percent (18 of 35) from three-point range. The difference was at the free-throw line, where the Bruins were 20 of 32 and UCA was 7 of 13.
Aaron Holiday led UCLA with 24 points and Thomas Welsh added 16 points and 11 rebounds. Kris Wilkes scored 20 points, including five consecutive in overtime.
After trailing 34-17 with 8:15 left in the first half, the Bears reeled off a 17-4 run behind eight consecutive points from Unruh. Back-to-back three-pointers by Howard and Jones put the Bears ahead 44-43 with just under a minute to play. UCA outscored UCLA 28-13 in the final 7:45 of the half to go to the locker room trailing just 47-45.
UCA shot 51.5 percent from the field in the first half, aided by an 8-for-13 performance from three-point range. Howard was 3 of 6, while Unruh was 2 of 2 and Koval was 2 for 3, including UCA's first two baskets of the game.
"It was a fun game," Pennell said. "We just came up a little bit short."
Howard, a senior from Chandler, Ariz., has 286 three-pointers in his career. He needs 46 to break the Southland Conference record of 331 set by McNeese State's Demond Mallett in 1997-2001. Howard's eight three-pointers against the Bruins fell one short of the single-game school record and matched his performance against Morehead State last season.
"The Howard kid is special," UCLA Coach Steve Alford said.
Sports on 11/17/2017