FLORENCE, Ala. – The University of Arkansas at Monticello men’s basketball team opened the 2011 portion of the schedule with a 96-75 loss to North Alabama Sunday on the road.
In the first half, the Boll Weevils (8-3) had a rough start, while the Lions (5-8) used 55 percent shooting from the field to grow its lead to as much as 16 points with 3:31 remaining. The Lions held a 48-34 advantage at halftime.
The Lions used a 12-3 scoring run over five minutes in the second half to capture their largest lead of 26 points at 76-50 with 10:42 left in regulation.
Junior Ricardo Hall scored a game-high 23 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field and 9-of-13 shooting at the foul line. Junior LA Farmer, senior Jerrell Boswell and junior Sergio Crowe also reached double-figures in scoring with 12 and 10 points respectively.
Beaumont Beasley led the Lions with 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including six three-pointers. UNA had four other players reach double-figures in scoring, including Ricky Davison’s 18 points.
As a team, UAM shot 39 percent from the field (23-of-59), 19 percent on three-pointers (5-of-26) and 75 percent at the foul line (24-of-32). UNA shot 58 percent from the field (36-of-62), 58 percent on three-pointers (14-of-24) and 63 percent at the foul line (10-of-16).
Junior D’Angelo Dean made his return debut at the 14:08 of the first half. Dean was the 2007-08 GSC-West Freshman of the Year and missed the last two seasons due to injury. The Cincinnati, Ohio native finished the game with six points and four rebounds.
The Boll Weevils return to action Monday at No. 4 Alabama-Huntsville, which lost to Southern Arkansas on Sunday by a final score of 49-46. Monday's tipoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. at Spragins Hall on the UAH campus.
