CONWAY, Ark. – Central Arkansas outscored ACU 16-6 during a key stretch in the second half Thursday night and never looked back as the Bears snapped the Wildcat' two-game winning streak with an 84-73 win over ACU at the Farris Center.
The Wildcats (10-13 and 4-8) entered the game coming off back-to-back home wins over then-Southland Conference leaders New Orleans and Sam Houston State, but couldn't carry the momentum with them to Arkansas where the Bears completed a season sweep of the Wildcats. ACU – winless on the road in Southland Conference play this season – will be back in action Saturday at 4 p.m. when it hosts Northwestern State in Moody Coliseum.
Central Arkansas (7-18 and 6-6) won for the third straight time after beating Northwestern State and Southeastern Louisiana at home earlier this week.
ACU – which missed its first 14 shots from the field to open the game – cut the UCA lead to 31-28 late in the first half before the Bears hit a pair of 3-pointers to take a 37-28 lead into halftime. The Wildcats responded out of the halftime locker room with a 15-6 run to tie the game at 43-43 with 15:20 left in the game.
But the the Bears then ripped off the 16-6 run over the next six minutes that turned a tie game into a 10-point advantage. Thatch Unruh – who entered the game shooting 22 percent from the 3-point line on the season and averaging just 2.6 points per game – hit a pair of 3-pointers in the run on his way to a season-high 20 points on 5 of 7 shooting from the field, including 4 of 6 from 3-point range.
Derrick Brooks – who led all scorers with 22 points – ended the run for the Bears with jumper at the 9:29 mark to give the Bears a 59-49 lead. The Bears eventually pushed the lead to 70-55 with 5:37 to play on a Mathieu Kamba dunk, and the Wildcats would never get closer than eight points the rest of the way as they fell to 0-4 in conference road games.
Jalone Friday was 5 of 14 from the field (4 of 6 from 3-point range) to finish with a team-high 18 points and seven rebounds for ACU, while
Jaylen Franklin had 17 points, seven assists and four rebounds for the Wildcats.
Jaren Lewis had 12 points and five rebounds.
