UCA holds off pesky Lyon, 69-62
The UCA men's basketball team never could build a comfortable lead against the Lyon College Scots, but did just enough to get by in a 69-62 victory Saturday at the Farris Center.
The two teams exchanged the lead seven times in the opening half, including one that gave the Scots a five-point lead, their biggest of the contest.
After Matt Owens hit a 3 from the right corner to give Lyon a 22-17 advantage, UCA coach Rand Chappell called timeout, and whatever he said must have worked.
The Bears (6-1) came out of the timeout and outscored Lyon 14-4 to close the half and to take a 31-16 lead going into intermission.
Darryl Jones connected on a three-point play while Chad Wise hit a 3 from the left wing to put UCA ahead for good during that run.
"We came out and played a little streaky but we also made some good plays on both ends of the court," Chappell said. "(Norris) Weintz is anoutstanding player for Lyon and he made some tough shots to keep them in the game whenever we tried to pull away."
The Bears opened a 10-point advantage with 15:07 left in the second half as Jones drilled a 3 from the left wing but Lyon's Weintz responded with a 3 of his own to keep the Scots close.
The two teams then traded baskets most of the second half until Lyon ran off five straight points capped by Brandon Thomas' three-point play to cut the UCA advantage to 65-62 with 1:34 remaining in the contest. Lyon (6-5) had a chance to tie the game, down by three with just over a minute remaining but UCA's Frederick Campbell forced Jonathan Donaldson into a bad shot. On the other end of the court, Campbell nailed a jumper inside the lane to give UCA a five-point lead and to ice the game for the Bears.
"We never were able to get away from them but Fred made a couple nice plays in the last minute," Chappell said. "They had cut the lead to three with around a minute left but (Campbell) made a nice defensive play and then he came down and hit a shot in the lane to give us a little breathing room."
Weintz led all scorers as he finished with 24 points while Donaldson added 15 and Brandon Thomas had 10 for the Scots.
Jones led the Bears as he finished with 16 points while LeMar Phillips had 15 and Stephin Booth added 10.
"Lamar played his best ball on the defensive side of the ball today," Chappell said. "The time he was in there he did a good job on Weintz but due to foul problems we had to play a smaller guy on him and that is when he was able to hit some shots.
"Stephin is a very active player inside for us who is very aggressive with the basketball. We want him to continue to improve and that we help his game as well as us as a whole."
UCA is off until Saturday when it will face Rollins College in Las Vegas.
"It should be a great tournament with some outstanding teams," Chappell said. "It will be a great trip for the guys and kind of a reward for after finals and also a great experience for everyone."