MONTICELLO – The University of Arkansas at Monticello men’s basketball team picked up its third straight win by defeating Henderson State 64-50 in Gulf South Conference play Thursday evening.
 
The Weevils finished the game shooting just over 42 percent from the field after connecting on 24-of-57 attempts, but the Reddies finished with a final mark of 39 percent from the field to allow the Weevils to come away victorious.
 
UAM jumped out to a quick 11-point lead with just over 13 minutes left in the opening period with a three-point basket by junior Derek Easter (El Dorado, Ark.) to put the Weevils on top 17-6.
 
Later in the half, UAM used an 8-0 scoring run to create its largest lead of the period at 22 points with 4:35 remaining. Senior Raymond Wright (New York, N.Y.) was responsible for five of those eight points.
 
UAM took a 16-point lead of 35-19 into the locker room at the halftime break.
 
In the second half, UAM was outscored by two points, thanks in part to the team only making 5-of-16 foul shots, while the Reddies produced 44 percent field goal shooting and picked up eight points from the charity stripe.
 
The Reddies even fought back to trim the Weevil lead down to a single-digit advantage of nine points with 5:34 left in regulation.
 
However, that is as close as HSU would get. UAM grew its lead to as much as 18 points with a jump shot from senior Bernard Seymour (Biloxi, Miss.) with just over one minute left in the contest. HSU responded to score four consecutive points in the last minute to give UAM the final 64-50 advantage.
 
Wright led all scorers with 21 points and finished with nine rebounds, just one rebound shy of a double-double. Seymour tallied 13 points, while senior Deron Brown (Paris, Ky.) rounded out the UAM double-digits scorers with 12 points.
 
HSU was led by Martin Mitchell’s 13 points.
 
UAM improves to 14-3 overall and 3-1 in GSC games, while HSU drops to 3-13 overall and 1-3 in GSC games.
 
The Weevils continue GSC play with a road trip to Searcy this Saturday, January 24 for a 7:30 match up with Harding University.
 
Fans can listen to the game on the radio in southeast Arkansas at KHBM-FM, 93.7. That broadcast can also be heard live over the Internet at UAM’s official athletics website, uamsports.com.