Bears
Bears get to ASUN Tournament, despite loss to North Alabama
UCA earns first conference spot in four seasons because West Georgia lost again Monday night, but progress made this year
CONWAY, Ark. — For UCA, it was all about celebrating their seniors and earning an Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament berth on Monday night at the Farris Center.
The Bears accomplished both, despite a 93-70 loss to first-place North Alabama in their home finale.
Still, the Bears earned their first spot in the conference tournament in their fourth season in the ASUN, thanks to a loss by West Georgia, a team UCA swept during the regular season.
The ASUN Tournament is held on campus sites all the way through the championship game, but UCA’s destination for Sunday’s first-round game is not known yet.
The league finishes its regular-season slate on Wednesday, with UCA playing at co-leader Lipscomb in Nashville, Tenn.
“I’m disappointed about tonight, but we just ran into a better basketball team,” said UCA coach John Shulman. “We didn’t play bad, they just played really, really good, because they are really, really good.
“But let me explain it to you. Our goal was to win the league, and then we lost a bunch of players. So then I thought a realistic goal for our basketball team was to make the ASUN Tournament for the first time. And that’s a really important step for this team. It was really important for us to take a step forward, because no matter what happens on Wednesday, we get to play Sunday in the ASUN Tournament.
“And we have a shot. So we took a step forward, and I’m really, really proud of them.”
The Bears, who have battled numerous injuries throughout the season, celebrated two seniors during the pregame, four-year senior Elias Cato from Queensland, Australia, and two-year transfer Glory Etim from Richmond, Calif., in the final home games of their careers.
Cato, UCA’s second-leading scorer on the season, scored 11 points and made a pair of three-pointers. Etim had 2 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 blocked shot.
“I told our guys, I would love for Elias and Glo to lead us to a championship,” said Shulman. “But they’ve already led us to something we can grow on and build off of, because of who they are.
“If we don’t get to go to the tournament, then we made no progress. But we’ve made progress, even with our team as beat up as we’ve been. And I know we’re playing Wednesday, but you know what we get to do Sunday?
“We get to play in the ASUN Tournament. And we have the same amount of right to move on as anybody else in this league. And that’s exciting.”
Sophomore Diogo Seixas and freshman Cole McCormick led the Bears with 13 points each, while freshman Nehemiah Turner added 12 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 blocked shots.
UCA takes on Lipscomb at 7 p.m. Wednesday
The outcome of that game will have no effect on UCA’s tournament seed. The Bears will be No. 10 and will face No. 9 Stetson at one of several sites, including Lipscomb, UNA or Florida Gulf Coast.
The winner will then take on the No. 1 seed the next day in the quarterfinals.
Information from UCA Sports is included in this story
