BEARS LOOK TO EXTEND POSTSEASON RUN TODAY

[Seminole Indian]

CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears will try to extend their historic postseason run Monday night, and they get to do it on their home court at the Farris Center.

UCA (18-16) will host Jacksonville State (22-12) in the quarterfinals of the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) at 5:30 Monday. The Bears traveled to the great northwest and beat Seattle University 92-90 in overtime last Wednesday night in first-round action.

"It's always a little bit of a validation when you make a tournament,' said UCA's fourth-year head coach Russ Pennell. "And to me, the real stamp of success is when you can win. And in this came, winning on the road, across the country, in a venue where they had not lost all year. And you put all that together, and I'm really proud of this group.

"The thing about the CBI is, you're not going to get the publicity of the NCAA (Tournament), but within your own group, you know what an accomplishment that is. And it's also another building block for your future, what you want to do as a program.

"So to go out and win that game, and to get to keep playing, is really nice. By the time we tip-off Monday night, there won't be many teams left playing basketball in the country, and we're still one of them. And we would love to get that one and continue on to Wednesday or Thursday.'

The Bears have already won an NCAA Division I record 18 games and won their first two postseason games in the D-I era, beating Lamar in the Southland Conference Tournament and topping Seattle last week. They will now host their first postseason game since moving up in 2006-07.

"I think it's been a really big lift for us,' said Pennell. "I've seen more pep in our step since getting that opportunity. We hope that that leads to a good performance on Monday, but we also know that Jacksonville State is pretty good.'

The Gamecocks beat Canisius 80-78 _ also in overtime _ last week in the CBI first round. JSU finished 11-7 in the Ohio Valley Conference, beating Tennessee Tech 73-70 and losing to eventual champion Murray State 70-63 in the semifinals of the OVC Tournament.

Malcolm Drumwright leads the Gamecocks in scoring at 12.7 points per game, one of three players averaging double figures. JSU shoots 45.9 percent from the field but just 32.1 percent from three-point range. The Gamecocks have made 194 three-pointers and allowed 256. JSU does have a substantial rebounding advantage for the season, 38.5 to 32.3.

The Gamecocks have won four of their past five games while the Bearrs have won five of their past six. Before those late-season runs, both teams endured three-game losing streaks.

"They are a physical team, with very good rebounders,' said Pennell. "Defensively they're good. They just don't beat themselves. They remind me a little bit of New Orleans in our league. So I think the key for us is rebounding, which has kind of been an achilles for us all year. If we can do well on the defensive glass, I think we have a really good chance. '

Pennell said the key to success in postseason basketball is motivation.

"I want to see great passion and great energy,' Pennell said. "I think it's always important at the end of the year, with the tendency to always kind of look forward for the season to be over. I don't think that's a bad thing. I think everyone in America, if they're honest, they're tired, they're worn out, it's been a long year.

"But the teams that win this time of year are the ones that want to keep playing. That's what I want to see in our guys, and that's what I saw in Seattle. And I expect the exact same thing at home.'

The four quarterfinal winners will be re-seeded after Monday night's games so future matchups are not known. The other quarterfinal games are New Orleans at Campbell, Mercer at North Texas and Utah Valley at San Francisco. UNO is a fellow Southland Conference team and the Bears lost to San Francisco 78-76 during the regular season in San Francisco.

The game can be heard live on The Bear 91.3 with Justin Acri and at ucasports.com/KUCA. UCA-JSU can also be seen on the Southland Digital Network, which is also available on the Southland Conference apps for iPhone, Android, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Roku.

http://www.ucasports.com/news/2018/3/18/mens-basketball-bears-look-to-extend-postseason-run.aspx