Weevils Win One, Lose One

Sports Information Director

Weevils Win Thriller Over Harding at Home

    The University of Arkansas at Monticello’s Boll Weevil basketball team defeated Harding in a Gulf South Conference home game with a final score of 72-69.

   The Weevils led 64-52 with four minutes left in the game, but Harding was not about to give up. The Bisons almost cut that lead in half in less than a minute with two free throws from Matt Hall and a 3-pointer from Chris Dixon.

   That was the beginning of an 11-4 Bison run from the 4:45 mark to the 1:45 mark in the second half to pull the game to 68-63 in favor of the Weevils.

   The Bisons pulled to within two points with nine seconds remaining with a lay-up from Steven Barnett. With little time remaining, the Bisons were forced to foul. The Weevil they chose was junior Duke Sturdivant (York, Ala.). Sturdivant missed the first shot, giving hope to the Bisons and frustrating UAM head coach Mike Newell.

   Sturdivant sank the second attempt, putting the Weevils up three at 72-69. A desperation 40-foot 3-pointer from Trent Morgan hit the front of the rim and bounced out of bounds at the buzzer to give UAM the win.

   Leading the way for the Weevils was junior Deron Brown (Paris, Ky.), who finished with 19 points after shooting 5-of-15 from the field, making three 3-pointers.

   Brown was aided by junior Marcus Baham (Paterson, N.J.), who finished with 15 points, followed by freshman D’Angelo Dean (Cincinnati, Ohio) with 13 points. Dean recorded his third consecutive double-double with 10 rebounds in the contest.

   Back in action for the first time in little over a week was UAM leading scorer Raymond Wright (New York, N.Y.). Wright needed a little more than a half to get the dust off, as the junior only scored two points in the first half, but made his return productive, scoring 10 more points in the second half and recording his ninth double-double of the season with his final 12 points and 12 rebounds.

   Harding’s Matt Hall led the Bisons with 20 points. Hall only needed five points in the game to go above 2,000 career points. Hall now joins only five people in the history of the GSC to have scored 2,000 points. Hall now sits in fifth place all-time in the GSC in scoring, behind Billy McDaniel and Nate Newell, who both played at UAM.

   With the win, UAM improves to 13-8 overall and 5-3 in GSC play, while the Bisons drop to 12-9 overall and 6-2 in GSC play.

Weevils Downed by Philander Smith in Non-Conference Play

   True-freshman D’Angelo Dean recorded his season-best point total of 28 points, but did so in a losing effort, as the University of Arkansas at Monticello’s Boll Weevils dropped a non-conference game at Philander Smith College by a final count of 81-76.

   The only number that had significant difference between the two teams was 3-point percentage. The Panthers out-shot the Weevils 40 percent to 27 percent from behind the arc.

   Dean (Cincinnati, Ohio), in addition to recording his highest point total of this season of 28 points, notched his second consecutive double-double with 10 rebounds. Dean scored 20 points and pulled down his season-high of 12 rebounds in the win over Southern Arkansas Saturday afternoon.

   Dean’s 28 points, which was the game’s best total, came after an 11-of-14 performance from the field, which was also a season high in field goal percentage at 79 percent. Dean could have finished with over 30 points, but struggled from the foul line, connecting on 6-of-15 free-throw attempts.

   In a tight game that featured 10 tie scores and 13 lead changes, the Weevils let the Panthers take a four-point lead (45-41) into the locker room at halftime.

   PSC had a nine-point lead with less than a minute left in the first half, but an unanswered 3-pointer from junior Deron Brown (Paris, Ky.) and two successful foul shots from junior Marcus Baham (Paterson, N.J.) lessened the gap and carried some momentum into the locker room for the Weevils.

   The Weevils wasted no time in the second half, gaining a one-point advantage less than three minutes into the half on another 3-pointer by Brown. UAM and PSC then started exchanging leads more frequently, while neither team led by more than five points.

   UAM held its largest lead of four points at the 6:41 mark of the second half, when Dean sunk a lay-up to put the Weevils up 67-63. UAM pulled the game to within three points with 20 seconds remaining in the contest, but PSC’s Brandon Bealer sunk two free throws to end the scoring in the game.

   Bealer led the Panthers with 25 points after connecting on 7-of-11 field-goal attempts, 2-of-4 from 3-point range, and a game-high 9-of-16 from the foul stripe.

   Recording his first double-double of the season for the Weevils was junior Byron Wickes (Chicago, Ill.). Wickes scored 10 points and tallied 10 rebounds in his 38 minutes of play – all three were season highs.

   The last time Wickes played 30 or more minutes was in the first game of the regular season. In a losing effort to West Virginia, Wickes played 31 minutes.

   Also reaching double-digits for the Weevils was junior Duke Sturdivant (York, Ala.) and Brown, who both finished the contest with 11 points. Brown was a team-best 3-of-8 from 3-point range.

   With the loss, the Weevils drop to 12-8 overall, and remain 4-3 in Gulf South Conference play, while the Panthers improve to 9-13 overall.

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