The UCA men’s basketball team triumphed in its game against the West Georgia Wolves Feb. 20, bringing in an 82-71 win at The Coliseum.
The win against the Wolves (5-24, ASUN 3-13) brought UCA its first road win of the season for the Bears.
This game marked West Georgia’s second loss against the Bears (8-21, ASUN 4-12) this season, with the first 75-70 loss being last month in the Farris Center.
Both teams entered the game with tied 3-12 conference records and a tie for tenth place.
UCA sophomore guard Michael Evbagharu and freshman guard Ethan Thomas were unable to play during the game due to two new injuries, but four of the five starters made 12 three-pointers to lead the Bears to victory.
“I’m just proud of them,” UCA coach John Shulman said to ucasports.com. “Coming off Queens (loss on Tuesday), Mike’s out, how on earth are we going to get this thing figured out. We had a really good practice last night, a really positive practice. You know, we probably really won the game last night at practice.”
Shulman also commented on crucial plays made by redshirt freshman guard Ben Fox and senior guard/forward Elias Cato during the game.
“Everybody just made big shots. Ben (Fox) made a huge three at the beginning of the second half when they took the lead. They took the lead and we answered. Elias (Cato) made some big ones. And we haven’t played with a lead late in the game. We got some stops and we got some free throws,” Shulman said to ucasports.com.
The Bears seized a 36-35 halftime lead by way of 11 points from sophomore guard Brayden Fagbemi.
Fagbemi and Cato each made two three-pointers.
Freshman center Nehemiah Turner scored 17 points during the game, and 12 of these points were scored during the second half of the game. Freshman guard/forward Cole McCormick scored 13 of his 18 points following the break as well.
Fagbemi secured 19 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists for the Bears while going 3 of 7 from the arc.
Cato attained 16 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists and finished 4 of 7 from the perimeter.
Fox nearly had double figures with 8 points and 2 three-pointers under his belt.
The Bears made 12 of 28, or 42.9 percent, from the three-point range and 18 of 24, or 75 percent, from the foul line.
Shulman said he was proud of the team, stating that winning and losing wasn’t a topic discussed very much amongst the Bears.
“We haven’t talked about winning and losing a whole lot. We did before this game. We just said, hey, this is a big-boy game. If you want to play in the ASUN Tournament, we have to win the game. We have to try to win the game. And you try and you don’t, it’s okay. But what is not okay is not trying to win the game,” Shulman said to ucasports.com. “And I thought tonight we tried to win the game, and I was proud of them.”
The Bears men’s basketball team will play their last home game of the season against North Alabama on February 24 at 6:30 p.m. in the Farris Center.
UCA will end its regular season against Lipscomb in Nashville, Tennessee, 7 p.m. Feb. 25.