MONTICELLO, Ark. – The University of Arkansas at Monticello men's basketball team won an impressive come-from-behind game over Henderson State University on Saturday at the Steelman Field House in Monticello, Arkansas, 86-82. UAM found itself down, 42-26, at halftime, but outscored HSU, 60-40, in the second half and made some clutch shots late en route to the victory.
It was a tough start to the game for the Weevils falling behind early. In the first half, UAM was just 8-of-22 from the field and 1-of-6 from deep struggling to get going offensively. HSU seemed to have a lot going right for it taking an early 10-point lead with 13:46 left in the half.
Denzel McDuffey would get to the line to respond and hit a pair of free throws to make it single digits again.
A few moments later, HSU would go back up 10. To respond,
Marcus Gilbert hit the Weevil's lone three-pointer of the half to cut the lead back to seven. However, HSU continued to have success and momentum on its side throughout the period, eventually swelling the lead to 19 points. To conclude the half, UAM got the lead back to 16 following a free throw by McDuffey, but the Reddies took a 42-26 lead at the half.
The first half of the second period saw the Weevils chipping away at the deficit. UAM's top scorer for the day,
Austin Hardy, cut the lead to 12 points when he hit a layup in the paint after snagging an impressive offensive board. Gilbert also aided in the start of the comeback at 13:30 when he got to the free-throw line and hit them both to make it 52-44 HSU.
UAM shrunk the lead all the way to five points when
Kwame McBean got a great dish from Gilbert with 12:26 left to play. Following a response from HSU, Gilbert got the fans on their feet with a big-time three-pointer off a steal by
Justin Slocum making it 56-42 in favor of the Reddies. At 10:32, UAM got within one possession when Hardy hit a big-time triple of his own.
The game remained tight after that with the largest lead being seven. It was not until under six to play that UAM would get its first lead of the night. Hardy would get fouled and hit both his free throws to make it 69-68 UAM. Following a basket by HSU, the Reddies went ahead, and Slocum made a big layup to take another Weevil lead.
HSU got its lead back to three with 1:48 left to play and the Weevils needed some big shots.
Wanya King provided with a huge three-pointer to tie it up, 80-80. With 51 seconds left and HSU back up by two, Slocum cut it to one point with a free throw. HSU then missed a jumper on the other end and
KJ Lesure would get fouled beyond the three-point line in the act of shooting. He then hit all three to put UAM up two, 84-82. The Reddies had one final chance to tie or win the game with 17 seconds remaining, but the Weevil defense held strong. Slocum would get a rebound off a missed shot and Lesure got fouled to follow. He hit the final two free throws with two seconds left and UAM went on to win, 86-82.
Hardy led all scorers with 23 points, while getting a double-double snagging 11 rebounds.
McDuffey also had a double-double of his own with 13 points and 13 boards.
Slocum, Lesure and Gilbert also wound up in double-figures for points with 17, 15 and 13, respectively.
Lesure also led the roster in assists with seven while the team tallied 14 total.
After the tough first half percentages of 36.3 from the field and 16.7 from deep, UAM shot 56.2 percent from the floor and 41.7 percent from downtown in the second half.
With the win, the Weevils improve to 8-2 overall and 3-1 in GAC play, while HSU falls to 6-3 overall and 2-2 in league play.
UP NEXT
UAM will play its first game of the DII Power Invitational in Honolulu, Hawaii on Thursday with a matchup against the University of Alaska-Anchorage. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:15 p.m. (HST) and 8:15 p.m. (CT).
