UCA men’s basketball junior guard Aubrey Ball scored a season-high 23 points and hit 7-of-9 three pointers as the Bears scraped past McNeese State 76-75 on Jan. 30 in Lake Charles, La. then lost 78-67 against Nicholls State on Feb. 1.
With the win, the Bears moved to 11th place in the Southland Conference standings with a 2-7 SLC record and 5-15 overall record.
Stephen F. Austin leads the conference with a 19-2 record and an undefeated, 8-0 mark in conference play.
The junior from Carrollton, Texas had a previous season-high of 12 points against Incarnate Word on Jan. 16, but nearly doubled that total against the Cowboys.
“This game was very important coming off of a losing streak, we lost a few at home so we knew we had to steal one on the road,” Ball said. “My teammates made me feel comfortable as they do every night, they just kept telling me to be ready to shoot and that they were looking for me. We believe in playing as a team and when we say ‘together’ in the huddle that’s what we live by.”
Senior guard DeShone McClure added 14 points while fellow senior guard LaQuentin Miles had 15 points, five assists and seven rebounds for the Bears.
Freshman forward Phabian Glasco contributed five blocks to go along with six rebounds and three assists.
“I have to give this all to my teammates, [Ball] came in and knocked down some big shots for us,” McClure said. “They gave me back my confidence that I have been missing these last few games.”
Miles made the play of the game when he converted a three-point play with one second left, which was the difference in the outcome.
“Coach [Clarence Finley] drew up a great play, putting everyone in great position,” Miles said. “Coach has us shooting a ton of free throws in practice and it sure paid off,” he said.
The Bears led by 17 at halftime, but McNeese State came back to gain an eight-point lead with 6:47 left in the second half.
Ball hit four three-pointers down the stretch and cut the Cowboy’s lead to one with six seconds left, when McNeese State guard Ledrick Eackles’s missed free throw led to Miles’s game-winning shot.
“When they came back, we kept telling each other to keep fighting,” McClure said. “We refused to lose tonight and it was a good team win for us.”
McNeese State junior forward Desharick Guidry had a double-double for the Cowboys, with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Eackles added 21 points and four rebounds.
The Bears ran into foul trouble against Nicholls State as they put the Colonels on the free-throw line 23 times.
Nicholls held a 34-32 lead heading into halftime but took over in the second half, outscoring the Bears 44-35.
This second half outburst helped propel the Colonels to the win.
The Colonels hurt UCA from the line, hitting 21 of the 23 shots.
The Bears trailed by only two at 66-64 on McClure ‘s basket in the paint, but the Colonels (10-8, 7-2) outscored the Bears 12-3 the rest of the way.
The Bears shot 43.4 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from the three-point line. UCA made one of seven shots behind the three-point line.
The Bears didn’t improve their free throw percentage by hitting 57.1 percent from the line.
Nicholls State shot 51 percent from the field and 45.5 percent from beind the three-point line.
The Colonels had a 91.3 free throw percentage.
Nicholls outscored the Bears 36-32 in the paint.
UCA managed to get 12 second chance points to the Colonels five.
The Bears scored only three points off of turnover, while the Colonels score 12 points off of turnovers.
Neither team had a clear advantage on the boards with Nicholls getting 31 rebounds and UCA getting 30.
The Colonels held the advantage in assists with 15 to UCA’s eight. Miles led all scorers with 22 points, while McClure made 15, hitting three of six from behind the three-point line.
Nicholls had three players in double figures, led by sophomore Sam McBeath, who had 20 points.
He hit eight of 11 shots from the field and also added a pair of three-pointers.