Josh Smith scored a season-high 30 points, and the University of Arkansas at Monticello men’s basketball team won their second straight Great American Conference game Saturday, 71-66 over Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant, Okla.
UAM (7-7, 3-5 Great American) has won three of its last four and won consecutive games for the first time since winning four straight in November. Smith, who averages 13.9 points per game, overcame a brief shooting slump and connected on 13 of 20 field goals, all in two-point range, while collecting eight rebounds. His previous season high was 22 points against Hendrix College on Nov. 18.
Ashton Price, whose step-back three-point basket at the buzzer gave UAM a win at East Central on Thursday, scored 16 points against Southeastern (4-10, 3-5). Isaac Jackson added 12 points and five assists.
Tied at 32-all at halftime, neither team led by more than three points in the second half until Smith made a layup at the 5:35 mark to give UAM a 59-55 lead. The largest lead for the Boll Weevils was 71-64 until Southeastern’s Jamal Drewery made the final basket with 6 seconds remaining.
The Savage Storm led by as much as 10-4, and then the Weevils went on a 10-0 run in a game that saw nine ties and 17 lead changes.
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Ethan Wilkerson led Southeastern with 16 points and six rebounds. Chandler Dickinson had 14 points and nine rebounds, Drewery scored 11 points and Ethan Scott dropped in 10 points in the loss.
Wilkerson and Dickinson combined to shoot 13 for 21 from the floor, while the Savage Storm made just 25 for 54 (46.3%). They were 8 for 22 from three-point range and 8 for 10 in free throws.
The Weevils shot 53.8% (28 for 52) from the field but made just 4 of 12 three-pointers. They went 11 for 13 in free throws.
UAM will return home for a three-game homestand starting Jan. 15 against Northwestern Oklahoma State and continuing with Southwestern Oklahoma State on Jan. 17 and Southern Arkansas on Jan. 22.
WOMEN: Southeastern 62, UAM 33
Earlier Saturday in Durant, Southeastern held UAM to 9-for-52 (17.3%) field-goal shooting and the Cotton Blossoms committed 17 turnovers in their eighth straight defeat.
Mackenzie Espinosa led Southeastern (5-9, 2-6 Great American) with 15 points. Tori Kilburn scored 12 points and had seven rebounds, and Kenzli Warden went for 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Alyssa Batton and Taleigha Ealy each scored eight points to lead UAM, which hasn’t won since Nov. 25 at Mississippi College. The Blossoms shot 1 for 18 from three-point range against Southeastern but made 14 of 16 free throws.
The Savage Storm went 24 for 57 (42.1%) overall and 5 for 18 from the arc. They made 9 of 13 free throws.
Southeastern did not lead by double-digits until the 2:27 mark of the second quarter (26-15) and went into halftime leading 28-15. Its largest lead was 31 points late in the game.
UAM shot 0 for 12 from the floor in the third quarter, when it made 8 of 8 free throws.
The Blossoms will play Northwestern at 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 15, with the men to follow.