Championship Bound
The UAM men’s basketball team advances to the GAC Tournament Championship after a thrilling overtime win over Henderson State Friday. The Weevils outscored the Reddies 16-6 in overtime to punch their ticket to the title game with an 80-70 victory at Steelman Field House.
Online: uamsports.com
MONTICELLO, Ark. – The University of Arkansas at Monticello men’s basketball team advances to the Great American Conference Tournament Championship after a hard-fought overtime battle against Henderson State Friday. The Weevils outscored the Reddies 16-6 in the extra period to punch their ticket to the title game with an 80-70 win at Steelman Field House.
The UAM men’s basketball program is making its third appearance in the conference championship game and its first since 2018 when it finished as the runner-up. The Weevils also finished runner-up at the 2017 league tournament.
UAM (15-4, 12-4 GAC) started slowly in the first half missing its first seven shot to find itself down 9-0 to HSU (11-9, 9-8 GAC) at the first media timeout. The Weevils regrouped and began to battle back to eventually take their first lead 26-25 on a transition three-pointer by Miles Daniels with 4:46 remaining. The two teams traded buckets the remainder of the half as UAM went into the locker room trailing 31-30.
The second half continued to be a back-and-forth battle with nine lead changes and nine ties. With 4:30 to play the Weevils pushed in front by four on a Dajuan Jones triple. The Reddies would close the gap to knot the score at 60 with two minutes left. UAM held the lead again in the final minute, but HSU managed to tie it again to send the game into overtime tied at 64.
The Weevils jumped in front quickly in the extra period as Jones drained a pair of threes in the first minute and change. Jones went perfect from the field and the free throw line scoring 11 of UAM’s 16 points in overtime to lead the Weevils to the 80-70 victory.
Jones led UAM with 22 points in the contest scoring 21 in the second half and overtime. He also tallied six assists along with four rebounds.
Daniels and Lemmie Howard also finished in double-digits with 17 and 16, respectively. Daniels added three steals to his stat line in the contest as well.
Denzel McDuffey fell one point shy of his sixth double-double of the season finishing with nine points and 10 rebounds.
As a team, the Weevils used the charity to clinch the win shooting 22-of-27 for 81.5 percent in the game.
UP NEXT
UAM hosts conference-rival Southern Arkansas in the GAC Tournament Championship Sunday at 3:30 p.m. at Steelman Field House.
— #WeevilNation
