BOX SCORE
CLEVELAND, Miss. – After trailing by eight points at halftime, the University of Arkansas at Monticello men’s basketball team outscored Delta State 31-20 in the second half to capture a 51-48 road victory on Tuesday night inside Walter Sillers Coliseum.
After a back-and-forth battle in the first three minutes of the second half, UAM senior guard Kori Forge took over with nine consecutive points to give UAM (3-1) its first lead of the contest since early in the first half at 31-29 with 16:20 remaining. DSU (1-2) took back the lead less than a minute later on a layup from Cornell Knight.
Neither team held more than a two point lead over the next 12 minutes until UAM’s Dayton Mickens nailed a jump shot at the 2:09 mark to finalize the scoring at 51-48.
DSU had an opportunity to pull to within one point with 17 seconds on the clock, but a missed layup by Cornell Knight forced the Statesmen to foul. DSU needed two fouls to put UAM at the line in a bonus situation, allowing UAM to use over 10 seconds off the clock.
A desperation three-point attempt at the buzzer from DSU’s Lloyd Hickinson went off the rim to seal the UAM victory.
After a 5-all tie at the 16:26 mark of the first half, DSU used an 8-0 scoring run over the next five minutes before Forge snapped the scoreless streak with a jump shot at the 11:16 mark to give DSU a 13-7 lead. UAM later pulled to within four points in the first half on a layups from Brandon Sims and Forge.
The Statesmen closed out the first half on a 6-2 scoring run to take an eight-point lead of 28-20 into the locker room at the break.
As a team, UAM finished the contest shooting 41 percent from the field (21-of-51), 30 percent on three-pointers (7-of-23) and 40 percent on foul shots (2-of-5). DSU shot 37 percent from the field (19-of-51), 15 percent on three-pointers (2-of-13) and 73 percent on foul shots (8-of-11).
Kori Forge led the Boll Weevils with a total of 20 points following an 8-of-18 shooting performance from the field. Forge also added five rebounds, five assists and two steals to his finals totals. Junior Dayton Mickens also reached double-figures in scoring with 11 points.
DSU’s Terry Leak led all scorers with 22 points and also added a game-high 14 rebounds for a double-double. Mike Weems also reached double-figures for the Statesmen with 10 points.
The Boll Weevils enter Great American Conference play following the Thanksgiving holiday with a trip to western Oklahoma to face off against Southwestern Oklahoma State on Thursday, November 29 and Northwestern Oklahoma State on Saturday, December 1.
