Big night gunning three-pointers lifts UCA to home win

CONWAY, Ark. — The three-pointers were flying for Central Arkansas on Wednesday night in their home opener on Scottie Pippen Court.

UCA nailed 16 threes and absolutely shattered the school record for three-point attempts, finishing with a whopping 54, in an easy 108-49 victory over the Randall Saints at the Farris Center.

The Bears (1-2) had four players in double figures, led by senior Elias Cato with 19 points and freshman Layne Taylor with 18. Eight different players made at least one three-pointer, with Taylor connecting five times and redshirt freshman Ben Fox four times.

“It was good to play our first game (at home),” said new coach John Shulman. “I was nervous. Our first one here in the Farris Center. But we got off to a good start, we defended for the most part, we shot a few more threes than I thought we would shoot.

“But that’s how we recruit. We recruit offensively and coach defense. I think it’s an exciting way to play. And Layne said on the way up here (for the interview), ‘Hey, I had a lot of fun, it was fun.’ And if the kids are having fun, that’s a good thing. I did think we played really, really, really hard. And I thought we played really hard for 40 minutes.”

UCA Bears bringing the ball up the court against Randall. / Ted McClenning-AllBears+ Images

The Bears led 56-22 at halftime after tying their season high with 11 threes before the break. Taylor had 17 of his 19 points in the opening 20 minutes.

For the game, UCA out-rebounded Randall 58-34, including 19 offensive rebounds. UCA scored 52 points in the paint and had 21 second-chance points while playing all 14 available players.

“I liked our effort, I thought our effort was good,” said Shulman. “We out-rebounded them by 24 and we had 19 offensive boards. We had 23 assists and we only had 5 turnovers. I thought we shared it.

“I thought we had something in mind. We wanted people to leave here tonight going, ‘Gosh, do they play hard. Gosh, do they play together. Gosh, are they unselfish. Gosh do they hustle. Because you’re not going to win them all. But if you continue to do that, it attracts people and people appreciate your effort. And I appreciated our effort tonight.”

Cato finished 7 of 10 from the field and added 8 rebounds and 3 assists. Taylor was 5 of 10 from the arc and added 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals. Freshman Cole McCormick had 16 points, including two alley-oop dunks in the closing minute of the first half. Fox made two three-pointers to open the game for the Bears and added a career-high 14 points.

Sophomore guard Brayden Fagbemi had a game-high 11 rebounds and game-high 7 assists.

“Playing at home, we had 1,500 people here and that’s pretty neat for our first game, especially against a lesser opponent that’s not necessarily D-I,” said Taylor, a 5-foot-11 guard from Farmington, Ark. “And shooting a lot of threes. It’s a lot of fun, moving the ball, shoot it, play fast, run up and down. And we played together, stayed together and played hard. That’s the recipe for a lot of fun.”

The Bears opened the season against two Power 4 schools in BYU and Utah, teams that also fired up a lot of three-pointers. UCA did the same on Wednesday, breaking the school record of 35 set against UCLA in 2017.

“We set records,” said Shulman. “And I don’t mind shooting 54 (threes) but I mind missing all those ones that we didn’t make. So we’ll get better. It’s such a glamorous job Tomorrow morning at eight o’clock we’re watching film, we’re practicing at 8:30. We just have to keep on getting better. It’s part of the process, it’s the grind of college basketball.”

The Bears are back on the road on Saturday facing Western Illinois at 1 p.m. in Macomb, Ill.