Conway — The Bears overcame what was certainly an ugly first half by shooting almost 90% from the free throw line and holding off Ouachita Baptist, 61-58, Saturday night at the Farris Center.

"I thought it was an extremely hard fought game," head coach Rand Chappell said. "We thought they’d be the best defense we faced so far."

The stifling Lion defense forced UCA (9-3, 2-0) to shoot just 19 percent in the first half on 5-26 from the floor.

"They came out and got after us hard," Chappell said. "At halftime … we were only down four."

The Bears came out hot in the second half and scored the first seven points to actually take a 28-25 lead. But it came down to the free throw line, and LeMar Phillips and Darryl Jones combined to make seven of eight in the final 2:23 and force a long three – eerily similar to the women’s game – by OBU at the buzzer.

"[Phillips and Jones] made huge free throws," Chappell said. "I’m proud of the effort."

The Lions had an 11 point lead with five minutes left in the first half. The Bears responded and finished on an 8-2 run, heading to the locker room down 21-25.

The second half featured six ties and seven lead changes.

With under four minutes remaining, the leading scorer coming into the game, Jones, made his only 3 of the game to cut the OBU (9-6 1-1) lead to one.

Phillips made a jumper to temporarily give UCA the lead, 55-54. The Lions then went to their go-to guy, and Lucky Butler regained the lead with a layup.

That’s when Phillips and Jones stepped to the line and made six straight free throws to sew up the game.

"LeMar has been excellent since we got back from Christmas," Chappell said.

Compared to the first half, the Bears shot a blistering 50 percent in the second half and out-rebounded OBU 37-25 for the game.

Phillips led UCA with 19. Jones added 13. He only shot two for nine from the floor, but was a perfect eight of eight from the line. The two players also grabbed seven rebounds each. Stephin Booth was the leader with eight rebounds.

"I think we will be a better team in the future because of [this win]," Chappell said. "It was a heck of a team win."

Conway — Who knew a 35 foot buzzer beater at the first half’s end would be the final margin?

Caronica Randle’s heave gave the Sugar Bears (10-3, 2-0) a 35-28 lead going into the half.

"That was huge," head coach Checola Seals said following the game.

The shot would be the difference as UCA won its home opener 67-64 over Ouachita Baptist University Saturday night at the Farris Center.

The Sugar Bears would maintain the five point halftime lead until 14:42 remaining when the star of the first half, Allyson Sample, picked up her third and fourth fouls in a span of five seconds, sending Magen Rogers to the free throw line for the personal foul and Lindsey Dooley followed with two more for the technical foul.

"Her maturity is coming," Seals said.

The free throws plus a three-pointer swung a two point lead to the Lady Lions, 43-45, but UCA would take the lead for good when Sample returned and made her third three of the game to give the Sugar Bears a 56-54 lead.

The first half started well as freshman Mariesha Piggee scored the game’s first points and her first points in the Farris Center.

But the shooting went downhill from there. The Sugar Bears shot just 36 percent from the field in the first half.

UCA finally got on track with a lot of help from the bench and the defense Coach Seals called "awesome."

Sample only played nine first half minutes, but she was busy during that time, scoring 12 points off two three-pointers and six of nine at the foul line. That makes for a good points to minutes ratio.

The defense forced 11 first half turnovers, five of them steals, leading to 11 points and the seven point lead.

When the Sugar Bears finally regained the lead, they were able to stretch it out to five, but OBU was able to cut the lead to one after point guard Tiffany Dodson made two free throws with eight seconds left.

Renita Dobbins was fouled immediately once the ball was put in play.

On her 21st birthday and a crowd of family and friends watching from the stands, Dobbins sank both free throws to put the Sugar Bears up three.

"We shoot free throws every day," Seals said, "and Renita knows how to win a ballgame."

After a timeout was called to set up the defense, OBU (11-2, 0-2) was forced to take a long three that was off the mark.

"I feel pretty good," Seals said. "I just wish it had been a little easier."

The Sugar Bears improved to 2-0 in conference play and travel to Russellville Monday night to take on arch rival Arkansas Tech.