CLEVELAND, Miss.  – The University of Arkansas at Monticello men’s basketball team is still undefeated five games into the season thanks in part to a pair of wins this weekend in the Delta State Classic. The Weevils beat Virginia Union 68-56 on Friday, followed by a 65-52 win over Nova Southeastern on Saturday.

In Friday’s win over Virginia Union, senior Raymond Wright (New York, N.Y.) led the Weevils with 18 points and seven rebounds, going 5-of-12 from the field and 8-of-10 from the charity stripe. Aiding Wright were senior teammates Deron Brown (Paris, Ky.) and Bernard Seymour (Biloxi, Miss.), who scored 16 and 14 points, respectively.

UAM held a 37-30 advantage over Virginia Union at the half and capitalized on VUU’s mistakes to earn 31 points off of 20 Panther turnovers.

The Weevils were out-shot in the game 47.1 percent to 41.5 percent, but shot well from the charity stripe, hitting 18-of-22 attempts for an 81.8 free-throw percentage. VUU only attempted eight foul shots in the game, connecting on four.

In Saturday’s win over Nova Southeastern, Wright again led the Weevils, this time with 26 points, going 8-of-10 from the field and 10-of-15 from the foul line. Brown again reached double-digits with 17 points, aided by a game-high four three-pointers.

The Weevils were forced to post a come-from-behind victory after trailing by one at halftime by a count of 25-24. UAM improved its first half 33 percent field goal shooting more than 10 points in the second half to aid to the victory. For the entire game, VUU out-shot the Weevils 42 percent to 41 percent.

In the second half, the Weevils were able to stretch its lead to as much as 15 points with just over one minute left in regulation with a successful free-throw attempt from Brown.

With the two wins, UAM improves to 5-0 this season, which marks the best start since Lawrence Smithmier led the Weevils to five consecutive victories to start the 1991-92 season. UAM has never won its first six games, so a win over Champion Baptist on Tuesday, December 2 would create history for the Weevils.

UAM and Champion Baptist have already met once this season – a 102-47 UAM win on November 15. The game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. tip-off at Steelman Fieldhouse.