LAKE CHARLES, La _ Despite an heroic effort from senior running back Brent Grimes, the University of Central Arkansas Bears dropped another close one Saturday night.

Grimes rushed for a career-high 181 yards and topped the 1,000-yard mark for the season (1,085) but the Bears could not pull off the comeback in a 21-17 loss to 10th-ranked McNeese State at Cowboy Stadium. With the win, the Cowboys shared the Southland Conference title, their 13th, with Stephen F. Austin.

Grimes scored two touchdowns and carried a career-high 38 times to give the Bears a chance. But the Cowboys (9-2, 6-1) got just enough defensive stops down the stretch to hold off the Bears. The Bears fell to 5-6 overall and 2-5 in conference play. All of UCA’s six losses have been by less than a touchdown.

The Bears had the ball with 2:41 left with no timeouts, trailing 21-17.  Senior quarterback Robbie Park hit sophomore Isaiah Jackson for six yards and again for five and the first down at the 46. Senior Matt Clinkscales caught his first pass of the season, a 4-yarder over the middle, followed by a 12-yarder to Jackson for another first down at the 38 with time winding down.

Three straight incompletions brought it down to one final play. Park threw over the  middle to a leaping James Lovett but he could not make the catch between two defenders.

“I’m really proud of the way we competed tonight,’ said UCA head coach Clint Conque. “We’ll certainly be able to go back and dissect certain aspects of the game, but we competed hard, we played hard and we played to win. Give McNeese credit, they have a very good football team.

“I’m just really proud of the way our players competed. They prepared well this week they came out and showed it tonight.’

The Bears opened the scoring with a 28-yard field goal by Eddie Carmona with 3:13 left in the first quarter. The Cowboys answered with a 75-yard drive, 10-play drive, aided by a pass interference call against the Bears. Senior quarterback Derrick Fourroux kept it from the 8 for the touchdown and a 7-0 lead with 11:05 left in the second quarter. UCA finished with 10 penalties for 95 yards.

A special teams miscue gave the Cowboys another score less than two minutes later when a bad snap eluded Bear punter Jonathan Beard and he was tackled at his own 16. MSU tailback Toddrick Pendland went 10 yards for the touchdown on the second play to give the Cowboys a 14-3 lead at the 9:36 mark.

Grimes carried the Bears on the opening drive of the second half, eventually going 3 yards for the touchdown. He also had a 29-yard run and a 19-yard reception on the nine-play, 74-yard drive that closed the deficit to 14-10 with 11:04 leftr in the third period.

The Cowboys struck right back with a 64-yard touchdown run down the left sideline by junior wide receiver Bernardo Henry on the first play of the ensuing possession for a 21-10 lead. A flag was thrown in the McNeese backfield but was waived off by the officials.

UCA put together one of its most diverse and solid offensive series of the game on the next possession, driving 87 yards  in 16 plays. The Bears mixed in the occasional Wild Bear package with runs by Grimes and Ceaser, while Park hit Isaiah Jackson for 14 yards and Brandon Kennemer for 12. Jackie Hinton had two sweeps out of the backfield for 11 yards apiece.

Grimes went in from the 1 for his second touchdown and Carmona added the PAT for a 21-17 margin with 13:19 left to play in the game.

UCA’s defense held again, giving the offense one final shot. The Bears held Pendland, the leading rusher and scorer in the SLC, to 44 yards on 18 carries. Fourroux completed 11 of 18 passes but had no touchdowns. Overall, the Cowboys had just 250 yards of offense compared to 338 for the Bears.

“We showed the heart of a lion tonight,’ said Conque. “I’m really, really proud of them. We’ll come back this week and get ready to finish this thing up on Senior Day.’

UCA hosts its final game of the season on Saturday against North Dakota. Kickoff is 1 p.m. at First Security Field at Estes Stadium.