The UCA Men’s basketball team leaned on a dominant first half to extend its winning streak to eleven games, defeating the Stetson University Hatters 88-76 at the Edmunds Center in DeLand, Fla. on Thursday, Feb. 19.
The Bears improved to 18-10 overall, and 13-2 in Atlantic Sun Conference play. With 18 wins, Central Arkansas has matched the Division 1 program record for most wins in a season.
UCA has now secured a top-three finish in the ASUN standings, and sits two games above Queens University for second place in the conference.
The Bears wasted no time asserting their will, jumping out to a 19-5 advantage capped off by back-to-back threes from freshman guard Ty Robinson with 13:14 left in the first half.
Robinson scored all 11 of his points for the Bears in the first seven minutes of action.
Stetson punched back with an 11-3 run over the next few minutes to pull within 6 points before UCA outscored the Hatters 30-10 over the final 9:37 in the first half to take a 52-26 lead into the halftime break.
Senior guard Camren Hunter scored 11 unanswered points during the stretch, with 22 of his 30 points coming in the first half.
The Bears capitalized on their defensive aggression in the first half, generating 16 points off 9 Stetson turnovers.
Hunter and Robinson led the defensive effort, each coming away with 4 steals.
Stetson found an offensive spark in the second half, ignited by 16 straight points from junior guard Ethan Copeland, to gradually chip away at the Central Arkansas lead.
Copeland would finish the game leading Stetson in scoring with 27 points.
Despite the Hatters making 67% of their shots in the half, the Bears came away with scores at critical moments to prevent Stetson from ever drawing within single digits.
Freshman forward Janusz Ratowski’s layup with 2:38 to play shrunk the Bears lead to 77-67, capping a 20-6 Stetson run before UCA pulled away for a 12 point road victory.
In addition to Hunter and Robinson, three Bears reached double-figures in scoring. Sophomore forward Cole McCormick had 12 points, freshman guard Luke Moore added 11 and junior guard Javion Guy-King chipped in all 10 of his points in the second half.
Despite a less than stellar second half performance, UCA Head Coach John Shulman isn’t going to lose too much sleep over a double digit conference win on the road.
Shulman said “I’ve been involved with teams and coaches that would come in there and break the guys. We came down here to win the game, and we won the game. So let’s get over ourselves and let’s get better tomorrow and get some rest and get ready to roll.”
Javion Guy-King felt that the team’s struggles in the second half will benefit them moving forward.
Guy-King said “I think we needed that. We came out, we were hot in the first half. I think we kind of came out sluggish in the second half, but it’s kind of a wake up call.”
Looking ahead, the Bears make the bus trip from DeLand to Fort Myers, Fla., for a weekend matchup against the Florida Gulf-Coast University Eagles (13-15, ASUN 7-8) Saturday, Feb. 21.
All UCA Basketball games can be streamed on ESPN+.