MONTICELLO – The University of Arkansas at Monticello men’s basketball team suffered its third consecutive loss with an 84-77 setback to Delta State Thursday evening in Gulf South Conference play.
 
The Weevils (16-6, 5-4 GSC) held the lead throughout the first eight minutes of the contest, even leading by as much as five points, but surrendered the lead to the Statesmen (17-5, 7-2 GSC) with just over 12 minutes left in the first half. DSU followed by growing its lead to five points with a pair of free throws from Chad Akins to give the Statesmen a 25-20 advantage.
 
From the point, the Statesmen held the lead for the remainder of the contest. The Weevils did fight their way back into the contest by tying the game at 54-all with 12:28 left in the second half on a slam-dunk by senior Raymond Wright (New York, N.Y.). DSU followed with an 8-0 scoring run and eventually led by as many as 10 points on three different occasions.
 
Individually, senior Bernard Seymour (Biloxi, Miss.) led the Weevils with 19 points after shooting 7-of-9 from the field and 3-of-5 from the foul line. Senior Deron Brown (Paris, Ky.) followed closely with 17 points after sinking 5-of-15 field goals and 4-of-6 foul shots.
 
Wright also reached double digits with 16 points, while also grabbing 11 rebounds to give him his eighth double-double of the season, the 20th of his career.
 
DSU was led by Joe McCray’s game-high 24 points. He hit 8-of-15 shots, including 5-of-9 from three-point range. Alton Robinson also had a big night with 20 points, half coming from the foul line where he was 10-of-15.
 
UAM continues GSC play Saturday, February 14 in Arkadelphia against Ouachita Baptist for a 5 p.m. tip-off. The Weevils defeated the Tigers earlier this season at home by a final score of 58-49.