UCAFANS.COM | GO UCA BEARS!

Final 1 2 Score
Jacksonville St 25 47 72
Central Arkansas « 23 53 76

GoBears!!

Congrats to the men. Will only get better as the season progresses if no other major injuries.

SOUTHLAND MEN : UCA wins fifth at free-throw line

BY NICK WALKER

Posted on Sunday, November 25, 2007


CONWAY — Try as they might, the Central Arkansas Bears just couldn’t lose this one.

Central Arkansas defeated Jacksonville State 76-72 at the Farris Center, despite blowing most of a 13-point lead in the final 3: 17.

“We’ve got to find a way to close out games better,” Central Arkansas Coach Rand Chappell said.

The Bears led 66-53 with 3: 17 left to play before Jacksonville State went on a 13-3 run to cut the lead to 69-66 on a three-pointer by DeAndre Bray with 1: 09 to go.

That’s when the Bears began practicing their free throws. Central Arkansas shot 10 free throws in the final minute of the game as Jacksonville State (2-4 ) tried to complete the comeback by fouling.

It worked on the first possession, as Central Arkansas’ York Sims hit just 1 of 2 and Bray drove to the basket to make it 70-68 with 1: 05 remaining.

Marcus Pillow stopped the bleeding, though, by extending his streak of consecutive free throws made this season to 21.

The sophomore guard from Russellville hit both his free throws on the next possession to put the Bears (5-1 ) back up by four. Pillow was 6 of 6 from the freethrow line Saturday.

“I don’t know [when he’s going to miss ],” Chappell said. “Hopefully never.” A putback by Jacksonville State’s Dorien Brown made it 72-70 on the Gamecocks’ next possession, and Sims was only 1 of 2 on the subsequent free throws. That meant Brown’s jumper for the Gamecocks cut the Bears’ lead to just 73-72.

Central Arkansas’ Nate Bowie hit both of his free throws after being fouled by Brown, and the Bears led 75-72 with 17 seconds left. Bowie hit 1 of 2 after Jacksonville State’s Will Ginn missed a three-pointer and then immediately fouled him with 4 seconds left.

“We’ll take it,” Chappell said of the victory. “I don’t know how many teams there are out there with five wins, maybe 40 of 50, but that’s out of 300. So, we’ll take it.”

Congrats on a great start!

Jacsksonville State featured one of the leading assists player in the nation and this was a terrific game featuring some pretty good teams. At least for those who came.

Tuesday night the Bears play Rhema. Likely a win and you should come out to see the progress of Rand's team.

In the long run, many of us believe the most upside for future UCA success in Division I sports is with the basketball Bears - if we support them. The coaches have done a remarkable job recruiting but the lack of fan support and improving but secondary marketing support will not help with potential players or with the excellent coaches.

First, come see them play and encourage others. It is a very entertaining evening. If not Tuesday then certainly December 5th when the University of Idaho comes to Conway. A big crowd is important!!!

If UCA wants to make a stronger case for state universities playing each other it seems crucial that we at least show we care enough to show up.

Some of us would also like to see football coaches show up to show the same level of support that we notice come from other sports for their games. We support them and all the teams. Not to mention administrators, sports or University. At least show up so Lu and Brad can see you.

Second, encourage the administration to put some muscle into marketing and advertising. We know they think this program is on the upswing but there is yet little evidence of the necessary push.

Go Bears! For the rest of us, come join the fun.

Bear friends, you make some good points about support. However, I imagine the football coaches are pretty much into their scouting and recruiting mode right now. I might be wrong, though.

The last basketball game I went to I saw coach Conque there. He supports the other teams too!

I know one coach who make lots of Bear and SugarBear events other than his own.

Agreed that UCA could move well up in NCAA basketball due to nature of the sport v football. Look what Gonzaga and others have done. We absolutely have to have strong attendance at Bears and SB basketball games. Not only does this help pay the bills but what recruit wants to play for a team who has little fan support? There is no good reason for Farris Center not to be packed..it's not like it's Alltel Arena in size. We should have 2,000 students at each game ...I doubt if I missed a single football (plus many road games) or basketball game per year when I was in school....had we had SugarBears then I would have been there also.....got to baseball games also to watch my friends play...one of Brad's top challenges is to get student support at record levels for football and basketball to stimulate interest in the overall program ...... it's like a snowball rolling downhill...hard to get started but if you do it grows ...

I do believe we can compete in football at the playoff level but we have some work to do.....coaches seem to know what is missing...McNeese loss is sobering.......

GoBears!!

I'm willing to give everyone a pass for last Saturday being only a Thanksgiving holiday and all. As far as seeing football coaches at games, I've seen them there before when their recruiting and travel schedule allows them to be.

All in all however, the overall crux of your message is a good one...

This team has really impresed me with their will and determination to win! Even after being down in a couple of these games they have fought back to win! To me that is a sign of good coaching and talented players!
We shouldn't have any problem with Rhema on Tuesday, but then they travel to Jax State on Saturday, with the close game we had at home the away game should be a good one as well.
We really need to pack out the Farris Center on the 5th when Idaho comes to town!