CONWAY, Arkansas – Entering Saturday's game against McNeese, Central Arkansas ranked as one of the worst teams in the Southland Conference in three-point shooting.
 
That didn't matter on this day when the Bears knocked down a season-high 14 long balls for a season-best 56 percent, helping UCA defeat the Cowboys 79-69 and keeping McNeese winless on the road this season.
 
And for the second straight game, McNeese shot well below its season average from behind the arc, hitting just 9 of 24 for 37.5 percent despite entering the game ranked No. 1 in the league and No. 2 in the nation at 42.9 percent.
 
The loss was the third straight suffered by McNeese as it falls to 5-9 overall and 0-3 in the conference while UCA improved to 3-1 in league play and 4-11 overall.
 
The Cowboys will visit Abilene Christian on Wednesday in their next outing. ACU defeated Lamar on Saturday to improve to 3-0 in league play. McNeese's first four conference opponents entered Saturday's matchups with a combined 10-1 record. Wins by UCA and ACU improved that to 12-1. Sam Houston State (3-0) played Nicholls late on Saturday as was a game with Stephen F. Austin (3-0) at New Orleans.
 
McNeese began the game with back-to-back 3s by A.J. Lawson and Dru Kuxhausen to put the Cowboys up 6-0 early. After the Bears scored five straight to pull to within 6-5, a second Lawson 3 gave McNeese a 9-5 lead.
 
From that point, UCA took over beginning with a 7-0 run to put it up by three points at 12-9 just seven minutes into the game.
 
Later, and leading 21-16, the Bears connected on consecutive long balls to take their first double-digit lead of the game at 27-16 with 6:10 to play in the half.
 
McNeese battled back and closed the gap to 30-24 following a Kuxhausen trey with 5:02 remaining in the half, but UCA's Deandre Jones, who led all scorers with 26 points, sank back-to-back three-pointers as the Bears quickly led by 12 and an eventual 44-30 halftime lead.
 
The Bears opened up the second half with an 8-3 run then led by 20 at 55-35 after a UCA free throw at the 15:53 mark.
 
McNeese climbed back to within 13 points following a Jeremy Harrell basket with 12:16 to play but that would be as close as it would get until two treys in the final minute ended the game with a 10-point deficit.
 
Lawson led McNeese with 15 points while Kuxhausen added 14 behind 4 of 5 shooting from three-point range.
 
The Cowboys shot just 42 percent from the field (25 of 60) while the Bears hit 26 of 54 shots for 48 percent.
 
POSTGAME NOTES:
• McNeese made just 36.7 percent of its shots in the first half (11 for 30) while UCA sank 12 of 24 for 50 percent in the second half, including 5 of 8 from 3-point range.
• The Cowboys turned the ball over 21 times which led to 22 UCA points.
• McNeese held a 37-30 advantage on the glass and 14-7 lead in offensive rebounds.
• Kuxhausen's 4 for 5 shooting from three-point range improved his overall 3s made to 61 and 3FG percentage to 51.3 percent, both tops in the NCAA.