Corliss Williamson said his first University of Central Arkansas basketball team lost games on both ends on the spectrum last week — and he wasn’t referring to playing in Conway and Hawaii.

At the Farris Center, the Bears succumbed to a second-half comeback by Missouri-Kansas City. The Bears played better in the second half Friday in an 83-69 loss to the University of Hawaii in Honolulu.

“In the second half against Hawaii, we got within nine points and gave ourselves an opportunity to pull an upset,” said Williamson, whose team hosts Champion Baptist at 4 p.m. today, then travels to SMU for a Sunday game.

“In the first half against Hawaii, we had an issue with finding their 3-point shooters, then we lost our composure,” said Williamson at Monday’s weekly Bearbacker luncheon. “One good thing is we got 23 points off turnovers the second half.”

He added, “This group is starting to play extremely hard, but we are not playing as smart as I’d like us to. If we can keep that effort and energy, and if we can clean up some things, by conference time, I think we can be able to contend for a championship.”