NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State coach Mike McConathy commented the Demons' first half Saturday against Central Arkansas was the best of the season.

The second half was a different story as the Bears erased a 16-point halftime deficit to grab a 79-71 win in Prather Coliseum.

NSU (8-12, 5-6 Southland Conference) weathered the second-half storm and clung to a 61-57 lead with six minutes remaining, but the Bears outscored the Demons 22-10 down the stretch.

UCA (7-15, 6-5 SLC) snatched 25 offensive rebounds to bolster its 37 percent shooting from the field, which also prevented the Demons from running their transition offense.

"UCA had 16 offensive rebounds in the second half, and 10 of those were early that helped them cut into our lead," said NSU coach Mike McConathy of a Demons' team that entered Saturday as the best defensive rebounding team in the Southland Conference. "Hats off to UCA because they executed down the stretch, and they are hard to guard because of their length when they spread the floor and the cuts they make.

"It was a weird, weird game. Our effort wasn't bad, but we were just a step slow to ever ball. It's hard to understand."

The Bears scored the first 14 points in the second half as part of a 28-9 run that spanned more than 10 minutes.

UCA's Eddy Kayouloud scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half to lead four Bears in double figures. Rylan Bergersen recorded a double double with 15 points and 12 rebounds, nine offensive.

After shooting nearly 57 percent in the first half, the Demons went scoreless for nearly six minutes before junior Chudier Bile made one of his career-high five 3-pointers. Bile's second-half shooting helped keep the Demons afloat, but NSU was outscored 52-28 in the second half.

Bile tied for a game-high 19 points with sophomore Trenton Massner.

Massner propelled the Demons to the quick start as the Demons surged to a 43-27 halftime lead against UCA.

He scored 16 first-half points on 4-of-6 shooting from 3-point range, leading a Demons' unit that made 7-11 from deep. The Demons made a season-high 13-of-24 3-pointers for the game.

Massner scored 11 of NSU's first 17 points, including three 3-pointers. Massner had NSU's first five points as both teams struggled from the floor.

Trailing 15-14, NSU scored 11 straight points as part of a 15-2 run to build a 29-17 edge. Massner made five of his first six shots and shot 6-of-8, a drastic offensive change after the Wapello, Iowa, native combined for 11 points in his last three games.

"The ball sharing was phenomenal, and we made extra passes," said McConathy of NSU squad that had 10 assists on 17 made baskets. "We didn't move the ball in the second half, and we couldn't run our break because we didn't rebound. That's the tell-tale story right there."

Four different Demons made a 3-point shot, including three 3-pointers in the crucial first-half run.

Junior Jamaure Gregg chipped in all eight of his points in first half, six of those in the paint.

Meanwhile, a usually efficient UCA offense shot just 29 percent from the field and 2-11 from deep.

Freshman Nikos Chougkaz tallied his third straight double double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, his fourth of the season.

Junior Jairus Roberson added 10 points.

UCA held a large edge at the free-throw line, making 20-31 compared to just 4-9 for the Demons.

The loss drops NSU into a tie for eighth place with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, who bested the Demons earlier this season in their only meeting.

NSU will attempt to get back into the win column Wednesday when they host Abilene Christian at 6:30 p.m.