CONWAY -- A little less than a half-hour before tip-off Monday night, a group of about 20 Central Arkansas students took their spot across from the Bears' bench.
When the University of Arkansas-Little Rock came out for warm-ups, the cadre got their chirps in with the Trojans. Then one of the students asked for the ball and a UALR player happily obliged.
The UCA student, standing in the second row of the bleachers, promptly drained his shot, catching nothing but net on the way down.
Perhaps it was a foreboding sign.
The Bears eased past the Trojans 82-71 at the Farris Center in the first of two meetings between the local rivals this season.