The UCA Men’s basketball team fell just shy of punching their ticket to the NCAA tournament, falling in overtime in the Atlantic Sun Tournament Championship game to Queens University 98-93 in Jacksonville, Florida, on Sunday, March 8.
The Bears won against Bellarmine University on Friday, and Florida Gulf Coast University on Saturday to reach the championship game.
On the opposite end of the bracket, the Royals reached the ASUN title by taking down West Georgia on Friday, and Austin Peay Saturday night.
Central Arkansas jumped out to an early 8-0 lead in the opening minutes of play, before Queens responded with 8 unanswered of their own to even up the score early on.
A 15-9 Queens run, including 2 of 10 total made 3-pointers for the game from senior guard Chris Ashby, gave the Royals a 23-17 advantage with 11:11 left in the first half.
Ashby would finish the day 10-19 from beyond the arc to lead Queens with 34 points.
Over the final 10 minutes of the first half, the Bears would make a push for the lead, ending the frame on a 17-7 run to enter the halftime break up 34-30.
The second half welcomed an offensive explosion from both squads, with Queens scoring on the first two possessions to reclaim a 35-34 lead.
The lead would trade hands over the next couple minutes, until a 3-pointer from Ashby put the Royals ahead 46-42.
The Bears would fight to stay within possession, before consecutive 3s from Ashby, and senior guard Nasir Mann would give Queens a sizable 59-51 lead with 9:16 remaining.
8 straight points from senior guard Camren Hunter would trim the Royals lead down to 63-59, before Queens ran off eight in a row to take a commanding 71-59 lead with just over four minutes left.
Despite being up against the ropes, the Bears gradually fought back, as sophomore forward Cole McCormick’s 3-pointer, followed by another seven in a row from Hunter, cut the Royals lead to 73-69 with 2:51 to go.
Hunter continued to refuse to let his team lose in regulation, hitting key shots to keep the Bears hopes alive down the stretch.
Hunter would score the final 20 points for the Bears in regulation, including sinking a layup in traffic with just 2 seconds left to send the game to overtime at 82-82.
Central Arkansas seemed to use up all their magic in the final couple of minutes of regulation, as Queens scored the first seven points of overtime to build a 89-82 lead.
The Bears made a valiant effort to fight back, with Hunter hitting a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 91-88 with 1:48 in overtime.
The Royals responded with one final gut punch, using a 7-2 run to put UCA away for good, as Queens secured its first ever NCAA tournament appearance with a 98-93 victory.
Despite the loss, Hunter delivered the highest scoring game in Central Arkansas history, finishing with 49 points on 17/30 shots.
With the loss, the Bears record dropped to 22-12 on the season.
UCA coach John Shulman was visibly emotional in his press conference, as he told the media, “It’s emotional and it hurts really bad, because it was so good. Some years it’s not so good, but it’s emotional because it was so good. That’s why it hurts so bad.”
Shulman would go on to add, “Our kids were exhausted, but what they did for UCA, and what they did for Conway and what they did for our program, that’s why it hurts so much.”
It remains to be seen if this was the final game of the season for Central Arkansas, as the Bears appear poised to receive an invitation to compete in either the National Invitational Tournament, or the College Basketball Invitational.
A postseason appearance for UCA would mark only the second in Division 1 history, as the Bears last competed in the College Basketball Invitational in 2018.
All UCA basketball games can be streamed on ESPN+.