CONWAY, Ark. – It was a meeting of winning streaks in ASUN conference play Wednesday night as Bellarmine was looking for their fifth straight win while battling a Central Arkansas team going for their ninth straight victory. Unfortunately for the visitors, it was UCA who walked out of the gym with their streak intact following an 84-76 triumph.
 
Three-point field goals were basically table stakes for walking onto the court at the Farris Center as the teams combined for 27 made treys, nearly half of the game's 55 made field goals. Seven Knights hit from deep while six Bears connected.
 
Bellarmine (11-14, 6-7 ASUN) got off to a quick start hitting their first three field goals, all from beyond the arc, to mount an early 11-2 lead. Two of those threes belonged to Kenyon Goodin, who was held without a field goal in Bellarmine's win over Florida Gulf Coast last time out on Saturday.
 
Bellarmine led by as many as 10 in the first half, but Central Arkansas (16-10, 11-2 ASUN) fought back to take a 33-32 lead with 2:23 left, their first of the game, after three made threes in a span of about 40 seconds from Luke Moore, Cole McCormick and Ty Robinson.
 
A pair of Brian Waddell free throws put the Knights back in front as they took a 34-33 lead into the locker room behind Goodin's strong effort. The Collins product connected on all five of his first-half shots, all threes, for 15 points, nearly matching his career high of six made threes in just 19 minutes on the floor.
 
Bellarmine started the second stanza on a 13-6 run to boost their lead to eight at 47-39 before a 10-2 Bears run tied it back up at 49. A Luke Moore three off a Knights turnover then gave UCA a 52-49 lead, their first of the night.
 
As much as Bellarmine used the three to build and maintain a lead in the first half, they used the longball to stay close to the Bears in the second half. A Donovan Hunter trey would tie the game at 54 with 10 minutes left.
 
UCA would battle ahead, but Bellarmine continued to hang around. Goodin's sixth three without a miss cut the deficit to six with 3:54 left and a Hunter floater trimmed the Bears' lead to four at 78-74 with 1:19 left.
 
On their ensuing possession, the Bears called a timeout with one second left on the shot clock. After talking it over, Camren Hunter found McCormick under the basket for a quick layup to increase their lead to six with 47.5 seconds to play. Hunter then hit all four of his free throws in the final 40 seconds to ice the game.
 
Goodin and the Bears' Hunter matched each other with a game-high 18 points. Goodin finished 6 for 9 from the floor with five assists. Jack Karasinski, one game after scoring his 1,000th career point, added 17. He and Goodin were joined in double digits by Brian Waddell (12) and Tyler Doyle (10). Doyle, who also matched a career high with eight assists, has now scored double figures in a career-best seven games. Also of note, Sam Donald matched a career high with a game-best nine rebounds.
 
Camren Hunter, though victorious, was much less efficient than Goodin, going 6 for 14 from the floor and hitting just 1 of 6 three-point attempts. Robinson (15 points), Moore (14), Javion Guy-King (12) and McCormick (10) all finished in double figures.
 
The Knights will be haunted by their 16 turnovers leading to 21 Bears points. UCA also grabbed 10 offensive rebounds leading to 12 second-chance points.
 
With the win, UCA remained one game behind first-place Austin Peay, who battled back for a 95-87 road win at Queens on Wednesday. Bellarmine now finds themselves in a tie for fifth in the ASUN with West Georgia.
 
The Knights' road trip continues Saturday evening with a 5:30 p.m. ET (4:30 p.m. CT) tipoff at first-place Austin Peay.
 
For more coverage of Bellarmine athletics, follow the Knights on X, Instagram and Facebook.