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MONTICELLO – The University of Arkansas at Monticello men's basketball team outscored Arkansas Tech by 20 points in the second half to record a 70-49 win over the Wonder Boys at home on Thursday night, thus clinching a berth into the Great American Conference Championship Tournament on March 6-9 in Bartlesville, Okla.
The 21-point win marks UAM's largest margin of victory in Great American Conference games this season and avenges one of the team's worst losses of the season, a 14-point setback (86-72) to Tech on January 16 in Russellville.
UAM (16-9, 9-8 GAC) held the Wonder Boys (16-8, 11-5 GAC) without a made field goal in the second half until the 9:01 mark and used that drought to grab a 21-point lead after outscoring ATU 24-3 in the first 11 minutes of the half.
The Weevils later led by as many as 23 points on a three-point play from senior Brandon Wilson with 3:34 remaining in regulation. Wilson again put the Weevils up by 23 about a minute later with a pair of free throws. UAM held at least a 20-point lead in the final six minutes of the contest.
In the first half, UAM led for the opening 16 minutes, including a double-digit lead on two different occasions in the first 11 minutes. The Wonder Boys used a 16-4 run over a span of nearly seven minutes to take a two-point lead with just under three minutes remaining in the opening half. UAM outscored ATU 7-4 in the final three minutes of the first half to take a one-point lead of 33-32 into the locker room at the break.
UAM finished the game shooting 51 percent from the field (25-for-49), including a 63 percent showing in the second half (12-for-19). ATU was limited to 21 percent in the second half (6-for-29) to drop its overall mark to 32 percent (17-for-53).
UAM's Brandon Wilson led all scorers with 21 points, while adding six rebounds, two assists, one steal and three blocked shots to his final totals. Four other Weevils reached double-digits in scoring. Junior Tre Wells added 13 points and four rebounds in 21 minutes off the bench, senior Brandon Sims and junior Kenric McCants each had 12 points, and senior Jared Harrison chipped in with 10 points.
Marshawn Arnold was the only Wonder Boys to reach double-digits in scoring with 10 points in 24 minutes off the bench.
The Weevils are set for their final regular season road trip this Saturday (Feb. 22) to face off against Harding. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. at the Rhodes Field House in Searcy.
