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Last-second shot ends UCA streak

Central Arkansas junior guard LaQuentin Miles (right) tries to score against Southeastern Louisiana guard Brandon Fortenberry on Thursday night at the Farris Center in Conway. Miles scored 15 points in a 70-69 loss.
Central Arkansas junior guard LaQuentin Miles (right) tries to score against Southeastern Louisiana guard Brandon Fortenberry on Thursday night at the Farris Center in Conway. Miles scored 15 points in a 70-69 loss.

— Central Arkansas’ men’s team was on the verge of winning its fourth consecutive game, a feat it hadn’t accomplished in Southland Conference play.

But the Bears’ early-season woes of not being able to finish games came back to haunt them Thursday night.

A bank shot by Southeastern Louisiana’s Roosevelt Johnson with 0.9 seconds left handed Central Arkansas a 70-69 loss in front of 1,878 at the Farris Center.

The Bears, who were without leading scorer Jarvis Garner, who was suspended for a violation of team rules, had a chance to win the game.But junior guard DeShone McClure’s desperation three point attempt from half court fell short as UCA (8-11, 3-6 Southland) saw its three game winning streak end.

“You have to be focused on the inbounds play,” UCA Coach Corliss Williamson said. “I thought we lost a little focus there. Our guys, we didn’t pay attention to detail. It’s those little things that we didn’t take care of tonight.”

Williamson said Garner, a senior who averages 16.1 points per game, will likely not play Saturday against Nicholls State and is expected to return Feb. 7 at Stephen F. Austin.

Senior guard Robert Crawford hit a three-pointer with 5.6 seconds remaining to give UCA a 69-68 lead. UCA center Anthony Borden then blocked Dre Evans’ layup with 1.9 seconds remaining before Southeastern Louisiana Coach Jim Yarbrough called two timeouts.

After the timeouts, Yarbrough had guard Roger Woods take the inbound pass. Woods passed to Johnson in the lane and the senior forward’s bank shot put Southeastern Louisiana (8-11, 6-3) on top 70-69.

Johnson finished with a game-high 28 points on 10-of-18 shooting.

“Roger did not hesitate,” Yarbrough said. “I thought he might look and look. He just let it rip. … We shoved it up there and gave it a chance.”

UCA led 64-59 with 7:14 remaining, but it made one field goal in the next 6:48 as the Lions came back to take a 68-66 lead on Brandon Fortenberry’s layup.

“We got stagnant on the offensive end of the court,” Williamson said. “We settled for threes. Then we forced some drives and shots. We had the lead and momentum and didn’t take advantage of the situation.”

The Bears shot 41.4 percent (24 of 58) from the floor and made 7 of 20 from three-point range. Crawford led UCA with 17 points and eight rebounds. Junior guard LaQuentin Miles had 15 points while Borden added 13 points.

Fortenberry scored 14 points for the Lions and Jeffery Ricard had 12.

THURSDAY’S GAMES

SE Louisiana 70, Central Arkansas 69 Northwestern State 85, Lamar 63 Oral Roberts 90, Nicholls State 78

SATURDAY’S GAMES All times Central

Sam Houston State at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 1 p.m.

Nicholls State at Central Arkansas, 4 p.m.

Stephen F. Austin at Lamar, 6 p.m.

SE Louisiana at Oral Roberts, 7:30 p.m.

SUNDAY’S GAME

Northwestern State at McNeese State, 4 p.m.

Sports, Pages 25 on 02/01/2013

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