Leathernecks Top Bears 55-44

The Bears (5-7) shot just 26.4 percent overall from the field, but shot better from three-point range (5 of 16, 31.3 percent). The Leathernecks, who swept the season series, shot 40.8 percent on the night and dominated the boards, outrebounding the Bears 44-28.  "We looked like a team that had been on a five-day road trip,' said UCA head coach Rand Chappell, "and we played a very physical, tough, defensive team. They guarded us extremely hard and we had a hard time getting baskets. We talked about before the game that there was a good chance the game would be in the 50s or 40s, "But you still can't shoot 26 percent. If we shoot 40 percent, I guess we have 50-something ourselves and have a chance to win the game. They really took the basket away. They have some big tall guys inside that are active, and they collapsed in hard. And we just weren't able to make many shots.'  The Leathernecks took a 25-18 lead at the break as the Bears shot just 29.6 percent from the field in the first half. Each time the Bears tried to make a run in the second half, WIU made a three-pointer or grabbed another rebound on the other end. The Leathernecks connected on 4 of 6 threes in the final 20 minutes. 
UCA fell behind by 18 points, 53-35. with 1:50 remaining to play, but fought back with nine straight points. Sophomore guard Dewan Clayborn nailed back-to-back three-pointers, Tadre Sheppard made two free throws and Ryan Daniels added another as the Bears closed the gap to 53-44 with 20.4 seconds left to play. WIU senior guard Quenton Kirby hit a pair of free throws with 18 seconds left that set the final.  James Granstra, a 6-foot-10 center, had 14 points, 9 rebounds and 5 blocked shots for the Leathernecks, while guard Ceola Clark added 11 rebounds.  "Rebounding was ridiculous,' said Chappell. "He (Granstra) was a big part of that. He was awfully aggessive on the glass. And one of their guards got 11 rebounds. So they were just active and playing hard and finding a way. Even late when we played hard and tried to make a run, we still missed some easy buckets around the goal and didn't get them in.'
Senior forward Mitch Rueter led the Bears with 11 points and Clayborn added a career-high 9. Senior guard Chris Poellnitz, UCA's leading scorer coming into the game, was 1 of 12 from the field and had 2 points and 1 rebound.   Three other players had at least 8 points for WIU, with Clark and David Nurse getting 9 apiece.  The Bears will take an 11-day holiday break before returning to the Farris Center on Jan. 2 for a three-game homestand against Central Methodist, Ecclesia and the Southland Conference opener against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.