Sam Houston lost sole possession of second place in the Southland Conference with an 80-71 loss to Central Arkansas Thursday night in Conway.

The win was the Bears' first ever over SHSU in men's basketball. The Kats had beaten UCA nine times since their series started in 2004.

“We just weren't ourselves tonight,” SHSU head coach Jason Hooten said. “Give Central Arkansas credit. They beat us today. We didn't play our best and things just didn't seem to fall for us.”

Sam Houston drops to 19-8 for the year and 11-4 in Southland action, tied behind league leader SFA with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

LaQuentin Miles, the Southland's leading scorer, totaled 23 points as Central Arkansas upped its record to 7-19 overall and 4-11 in the league.

“It's disappointing because we had an opportunity to solidify our hold on the number two sport tonight,” Hooten said. “Now it's going to be a dogfight for that second bye to the semifinals”

The top two regular season finishers both will receive byes into the semifinals at the Southland Conference tournament in Katy March 12-15.

Jabari Peters scored 18 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to lead Sam Houston. Kaheem Ransom totaled 16 points and James Thomas added 10.

The Bears overcame an early 10-point SHSU lead to take control midway through the opening half.

Sam Houston held leads of 14-4 and 16-7 in the opening five minutes. But UCA roared back, going on a 27-9 run to go up 34-25 with four minutes left before half.  The Kats rallied to cut the margin to 38-34 at intermission.

Central Arkansas didn't cool off in the second half, building a 15-point lead, 58-43, in the first eight minutes of the second period.

Jabari Peters drive for a lay-up with 2:52 to play cut the Bears' lead to four, 70-66, but could come no closer.

Sam Houston travels to Tulsa to face Oral Roberts Saturday at 7:30 p.m.  The Bearkats closeout the regular season at Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum next Thursday and Saturday against Southeastern Louisiana and New Orleans, respectively.