Weevils Fall to Harding in GSC Opener
January 12, 2008

SEARCY, Arkansas – The Arkansas-Monticello Boll Weevils couldn’t find a solution to stop Harding’s Matt Hall, who put up 33 points in a UAM loss Saturday in the Rhodes Field House with a final score of 60-67.
 
Hall, with those 33 points, will move into eighth place in all time scoring for the Gulf South Conference. Hall was affective from all areas of the game. He was 10-of-19 from the field, 6-of-9 from three-point range and 7-of-9 from the foul line. Also, Hall collected 11 rebounds to record a double-double.
 
For the Weevils, junior Raymond Wright (New York, N.Y.) led the team with 17 points, after connecting on 6-of-12 attempts from the field, but struggled from the foul line, sinking 5-of-9. Wright, who was the two-time GSC West Division Player of the Week coming into Saturday’s game, also led the Weevils with eight rebounds.
 
With injuries to freshman Marius Williams (Belleville, Mich.) and junior Deron Brown (Paris, Kent.), head coach Mike Newell looked to others to log significant minutes on the court.
 
One who stepped up to the challenge was junior Byron Wickes (Chicago, Ill.). Wickes seemed to be in the right place at the right time several instances in the game. The 6-6 forward pulled down five offensive boards leading to his six total points.
 
Junior Marcus Baham (Paterson, N.J.) contributed to UAM’s slight edge in bench points after turning in a 10-point, five-rebound performance, coming off the bench.
 
The other double-digit scorer for the Weevils was junior Duke Sturdivant (York, Ala.). The 6-1 guard hit three three-pointers in the second half to contribute to his final total of 12 points. Sturdivant was 4-of-8 from the field and 4-of-7 from three-point range. His four three-pointers was a team high and the second-best in the game, behind only Hall of Harding.
 
With the loss, the Weevils drop to 8-5 overall and 0-1 in the GSC, while the Bisons improve to an even 7-7 overall and 1-0 in the GSC.
 
UAM travels to Arkadelphia this Thursday to face Ouachita Baptist in the second GSC game of the season. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. in the Bill Vining Arena. The game can be heard live on the radio airwaves on KHBM-FM 93.7. The broadcast will also be streamed live on the Internet through <http://www.uamsports.com>  by clicking onto the men’s basketball home page.