NO PROBLEM: UCA cruises to easy win in final tuneup

CONWAY, Ark. — Central Arkansas’ final non-conference tuneup Wednesday afternoon turned into an early romp as they cruised past Champion Christian 120-54 at the Farris Center.

UCA (4-12) set numerous individual career highs and broke a 53-year old record for team rebounds in a game with 73. The Bears also made a season-high 15 three-pointers, had seven players in double figures scoring and had a pair of double-doubles.

The Bears, still playing without a pair of injured starters, scored all the points they would need in the first half as they raced out to a 65-17 lead at the break. Freshman Tucker Anderson came out on fire and scored the first 13 points of the game for the Bears to give them a 13-2 lead in the opening three minutes of the game. Anderson and sophomore Carl Daughtery, Jr., combined for 31 points in the first half as the Bears shot 54.2 percent from the field and limited Champion to just 20.7 percent.

Daughtery, in his third consecutive start, followed up a 23-point effort at Missouri on Saturday with a career-high 29 points in just 28 minutes on Wednesday. Daughtery was 3 of 9 from three-point range. Anderson was 4 of 7, senior Masai Olowokere was 3 of 5 and junior Brendan Simmons was 3 of 8 from beyond the arc as UCA attempted a season-high 38 threes and connected on 39.5 percent of them.

The 120 points was the most since UCA had 119 against the same Champion Christian team in 2021. The 66-point margin of victory was also the most since the 119-47 win over the Tigers in 2021.

Daughtery Jr., was one of a season-high seven players to score at least 10 points. Anderson added 18 points, while graduate Daniel Sofield had 14 and Olowokere, Simmons, junior Ibbe Klintman and sophomore Glory Etim all scored 11 points. Klintman shattered his career high with 17 rebounds, while Etim also put up a double-double with 14 rebounds. Klintman had 19 rebounds on the season entering the game and nearly doubled that in 22 minutes of action off the bench.

Sophomore guard Johannes Kirsipuu played a big role in many of those points with 12 assists in 17 minutes. Freshman forward Caleb Carr finished with a pair of career highs with 7 points and 12 rebounds. UCA pulled down 28 offensive rebounds that led to 33 second-chance points, compared to four offensive boards and three second-chance points for the Tigers.

UCA’s previous record for single-game rebounds was 66 set against School of the Ozarks in 1970. The Bears had 63 boards in the 2021 game against Champion Christian. The previous high this season was 50 vs. Hendrix.

UCA opens Atlantic Sun Conference play on Saturday, taking on the North Alabama Lions at 7:15 p.m. in Florence, Ala. The Bears return to the Farris Center on Thursday, Jan. 11 to take on Eastern Kentucky.