CONWAY — The Central Arkansas men’s basketball team had three chances in the final 17 seconds to tie Sacramento State on Saturday night at the Farris Center.

It wasn’t enough.

Junior guard LaQuentin Miles missed a three-pointer, junior DeShone McClure’s two long attempts fell short, and the Bears lost to the Hornets 71-68.

“We couldn’t get it,” UCA Coach Corliss Williamson said. “We came down, we ran one of the plays we wanted in this situation. We had a couple of looks. We got some offensive rebounds and had a couple of chances to take a few more shots. We couldn’t get it to fall.

“You’ve got to give Sacramento State all the credit. They did a heck of a job here in the second half as far as staying poised and coming back.”

After shooting 60 percent (18 of 30) in the first half, the Bears — who led 55-42 with 15:56 remaining — were held to four field goals the rest of the game. UCA (1-3) finished 27 of 56 (48.2 percent) from the floor in its second home loss in four days, following a 73-72 loss to Arkansas State on Wednesday.

“It’s tough,” Williamson said. “We’ve been in this situation against Arkansas State. We saw the lead dwindle down and lost that game. I was really wanting our guys to stay focused and find a way to win this one, but we couldn’t pull it out.”

Junior forward Jordan Harks’ tip-in gave UCA a 55-42 lead. But the Hornets (4-1) used a 21-5 run over the next 10:41 and Mikh McKinney’s three-point play gave Sacramento State its first lead, 63-60, with 5:15 left.

Trailing 66-64, senior guard Robert Crawford blocked a Hornets shot, but Joe Eberhard grabbed the loose ball and scored to extend Sacramento State’s lead to 68-64 with 2:55 remaining.

Officials reviewed the shot to see if it came after the 35-second shot clock had expired, but the call stood. Miles later made 1 of 2 free throws to pull the Bears within 68-65.

After Eberhard made 1 of 2 free throws to make it 69-65, senior forward Jarvis Garner, who led UCA with 21 points, made his fifth threepointer — his first since the first half — to pull the Bears within 69-68 with 28 seconds left. McKinney followed with two free throws to give the Hornets a 71-68 advantage with 17 seconds left.

Sacramento State Coach Brian Katz complimented his team’s ability to finish in the second half as the Hornets, a Big Sky Conference member, shot 46.4 percent (13 of 28) in the final 20 minutes.

“We were in the same situation at Utah when we came back and won,” said Katz, whose team won 74-71 at Utah on Nov. 16. “When you do it once, it gives your guys some confidence. That game carried over to this one. It was on the road, everything going against you, you’re not playing great.

“We found a way to tough it out and make it work.”

UCA made 7 of 12 threepointers in the first half en route to a 45-35 halftime lead, but was held to 1 of 7 in the second half.

Harks finished with 18 points and six rebounds. Miles had 10 points and five assists for the Bears, who play Wednesday at Eastern Illinois.

Senior center Konner Veteto led Sacramento State with 19 points and 11 rebounds.

SUN BELT MEN

UALR 69, SMU 56

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico — Will Neighbour and Leroy Isler scored 15 points each, and the UALR Trojans rode 50-percent shooting from the field to pull away for a victory over previously undefeated SMU at the Hoops for Hope Classic at the Puerto Vallarta International Convention Center.

UALR (4-2) trailed 33-32 at halftime against Larry Brown’s Mustangs (5-1), but outscored SMU 37-23 in the second half, gradually pulling away over the final 10 minutes.

Isler was 4 of 8 from the field and had 7 rebounds. Neighbour was 6 of 9 from the field and had 7 rebounds. James White added 12 points for the Trojans.

Shawn Williams scored 15 and had 10 rebounds for the Mustangs, who shot 36.7 percent from the field. London Giles scored 12 points, all of his points coming on three-pointers. Cannen Cunningham scored 11, and Nick Russell added 10.

UALR will play South Carolina today, with SMU taking on Missouri State.

SMU entered the game with its best start since beginning 10-0 in the 1997-1998 season.

UALR’s defense held SMU’s top three scorers — Ryan Manuel, Russell and Jalen Jones — to a combined 15 points, 35 points below their season averages, on 5-of-29 shooting.

SWAC MEN

WASHINGTON STATE 66,

UAPB 38

PULLMAN, Wash. — Royce Woolridge and Brock Motum scored a combined 28 points to help Washington State beat Arkansas-Pine Bluff and end a three-game losing streak.

Washington State (3-3) led 23-16 at halftime and started the second half on a 9-0 run.

Woolridge and Mike Ladd hit back-toback three-pointers to spark a 17-2 run to put the game out of reach at 56-28. The Cougars missed only two shots during the stretch. Woolridge finished with four of Washington State’s eight three-pointers.

The Golden Lions were only 6 of 26 (23.1 percent) from the field in the first half, 15-50 (30 percent) for the game. Washington State ended the game 23 of 48 from the field (47.9 percent).

Terrell Kennedy led UAPB with nine points.

This was the fifth of 11 games on the road for the Golden Lions (1-4).

Sports, Pages 31 on 11/25/2012