Box Score BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – The UAM Boll Weevils survived tough shooting to defeat Harding 58-54 in the opening game of the 2012 GAC Basketball Tournament.

The game was a battle from beginning to end, with 10 score ties and eight lead changes. In fact, neither team was able to get more than six points ahead of the other for the full 40 minutes of play. The rims at Bruin Fieldhouse were not friendly to either team. The Weevils never got their shooting above 35-percent, but made up for it on the boards with 16 offensive rebounds converted to 21 second-chance points.

Harding (13-14) jumped out to an early 5-0 lead as the Weevils (21-8) had the jitters early on in the unfamiliar surroundings. The shooting never really improved, but the combination of rebounds, 73-percent free throw shooting, and Bison turnovers allowed the game to remain close.

The Bison had their largest lead of the game with 4:27 left in the first half, 17-23, but Lonnie Cottrell sparked an 8-3 run with a pair of back-to-back layups that kept the deficit at one, 25-26, going into the halftime break.

Harding was able to hold on to that lead, slim though it was, throughout most of the second half as the two teams level-pegged their way down the stretch. They held a five-point, 47-52 lead with 5:28 left to play before the Weevils turned on one last surge.

L.A. Farmer got a jumper with just over five minutes to go and sparked a 9-0 run. UAM retook the lead on a layup two minutes later from Cottrell and never looked back as the Bison got one more field goal in the remainder of the game, a layup from Weston Jameson on a wide open layup off a turnover under the Harding basket.

L.A. Farmer has now set the mark for scoring in the GAC tournament with 27 points in 40 minutes. Despite going 8-of-25 from the floor, Farmer was a perfect 10-of-10 from the foul line. Kori Forge added 11 points in the game, going 3-of-8 from the floor and 2-of-6 from three. The Bison were led by Zach Roddenberry’s 26 points in 34 minutes, the junior did not miss a shot in the game, going 8-of-8 from the floor and 10-of-10 from the foul line.

The Weevils will now get ready to take on the winner of the Henderson State-Southwestern Oklahoma State game. Tipoff is slated for noon at Bruin Fieldhouse.