The UCA Men’s Basketball team stormed back from a 17 point first half deficit to defeat the Austin Peay State University Governors (21-7, Atlantic Sun 15-2) 93-88 at F&M Bank Arena in Clarksville, Wednesday, Feb. 25. 

The Bears improved to 19-11 and 14-3 in ASUN play, keeping their hopes for a share of the regular season ASUN championship alive by beating the Governors. 

The 19th win officially set the high water mark at Central Arkansas for wins in a season at the Division-1 level.

The Bears kept pace with the Governors early on, with freshman guard Ty Robinson knocking down a triple to even the score at 8-8 with 16:08 remaining in the first half. 

Austin Peay would begin to assert their will over the following 10 minutes of play, outscoring the Bears 30-13 to take a commanding 38-21 lead. 

Governors senior forward Collin Parker scored 14 of his 21 first half points during the run, finishing the night with 29 points.

Sensing the lead starting to get out of hand, the Bears responded with 12 unanswered points capped off by senior guard Camren Hunter’s layup to cut the deficit to 33-38 with 3:51 remaining in the half. 

The 12-0 stretch was part of a 23-8 UCA run over the final 6:36 of the first half to enter the halftime break trailing 44-46.

The Governors built another double-digit advantage early in the second half, out-scoring the Bears 16-8 over the opening 6 minutes to take a 62-52 lead with 14:26 to play. 

Central Arkansas would counter by scoring 10 of the next twelve points, 8 of which coming courtesy of junior guard Javion Guy-King, to bring the score to 62-64 with just under 12 minutes to play.

Guy-King had a career night having finished with 34 points on 14/19 shooting along with four rebounds and two steals. 

Without sophomore forward Cole McCormick in the lineup tonight, Guy-King was aware the team would need him to step up, but also knows that it took more than just his performance to come away victorious.

Guy-King said, “I’ve just been ready, my number was called and I stepped up. Tonight was good for me but we don’t win those games without Ty [Robinson] hitting big shots, Cam [Hunter] hitting three throws, Mal [Marable] getting a clutch steal. It was just an all around effort and it was a great win.”

Austin Peay would attempt to deliver the Bears a knockout blow over the next few minutes of action, as senior guard Anton Brookshire knocked down a pair of free throws to extend the Governors lead to 69-77 with 6:45 remaining. 

The Bears caught fire from behind the arc at the perfect time, draining three consecutive 3-pointers to take their first lead of the second half at 78-77 with 4:59 to play. 

After both squads traded baskets over the next few possessions, Robinson gave his team a massive boost, knocking down two improbable threes in a row with the shot clock winding down to put Central Arkansas ahead 88-84 with 1:48 left.

After the teams traded free throws, the Governors had one last gasp, down 90-86 with 23 seconds left. 

Bears freshman forward Malchiah Marable intercepted an Austin Peay pass into the low post, sealing the comeback victory. 

In addition to Guy-King’s 34 point outing, two additional Bears topped 20 points in the win. Robinson finished with 23 points, and senior guard Camren Hunter scored 20 points to pair with 6 rebounds and 3 assists. 

UCA rode a 68% shooting percentage in the second half to outscore the Governors 49-42 over the final 20 minutes. UCA Head Coach John Shulman praised his team’s determination in finding a way to win in front of an energetic Austin Peay crowd.

Coach Shulman said, “the goal was to come in here and play hard and leave here knowing that we could beat them … but to come in here and win tonight with this kind of crowd is amazing, and we have amazing kids.”

The Bears conclude their historic regular season Saturday afternoon, as the team returns home to the Farris Center for a pivotal Senior Day matchup against the Queens University Royals (18-12, ASUN 13-4). 

A win would ensure the Bears enter the ASUN tournament next weekend in Jacksonville, Fla. as no worse than the two seed. 

On the other hand, a UCA win and an Austin Peay loss at Bellarmine Saturday would give the Bears a share of the ASUN regular season title, in addition to the number one seed in the tournament.

All UCA Basketball games can be streamed on ESPN+.