CONWAY, Ark. -- The Nicholls State University men's basketball program (18-10, 12-5 SLC) struggled to overcome a red hot Central Arkansas (9-19, 9-8 SLC) squad in Saturday afternoon's league contest, falling behind by a deficit as large as 23 points and never managing to fully recover in an eventual 84-65 loss to the Bears at the Farris Center in Conway, Ark.

Despite trailing by a 23-point margin at the break (first of fives times), the Colonels recomposed themselves throughout the opening 12 minutes of the period, pulling back within as little as nine points before UCA sealed the victory with another round of pinpoint shooting. Individually, redshirt senior Dexter McClanahan exploded in his traditional second-half fashion, dropping 18 of his team-best 20 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field during the period, not to mention 4-of-8 from beyond the arc.

KEY STORYLINES & STATISTICS
-- For the game, Nicholls finished shooting 35.9 percent (23-of-64) overall, 26.9 percent (7-of-26) from long range and 75.0 percent (12-of-16) at the free throw line.
-- With the loss, the Bears manage to secure a season split with the Red & Gray, just the latter's second of the year after sweeping Sam Houston State, Lamar and Southeastern Louisiana already.
-- Beyond McClanahan, both redshirt junior Andre Jones and sophomore Warith Alatishe posted notable performances as well, scoring 15 points apiece with the former dishing out a team-high six assists.
-- On the glass, senior Elvis Harvey Jr. paced the squad behind five boards.

UP NEXT
The Colonels finalize their road schedule this upcoming Wednesday, Feb. 26 with one last contest away from Stopher Gym, traveling across state lines to Houston, Texas for a league tilt against HBU, tipoff set for 7 p.m.

STAY SOCIAL
For more information on Colonels Men's Basketball, follow the team on Twitter (@Nicholls_MBB), Instagram (@geauxcolonels) and like their Facebook page (Nicholls Athletics).