MonticelloLive

North Alabama finished the game with six players with over 10 points, which aided to a season-ending loss for the University of Arkansas at Monticello men’s basketball team in the Gulf South Conference Tournament quarterfinals with a final score of 87-69.

North Alabama used better than 60 percent field goal shooting to gain a 20-10 lead just six minutes into the first half. The Lions jumped out to their largest lead of the half with a jumper from Kenny Johnson that put the Lions up by 17 points with just over eight minutes remaining.

Junior D’Angelo Dean (Cincinnati, Ohio) and sophomore Derek Easter (El Dorado, Ark.) both nailed three-pointers in a span of less than one minute to pull the Lion lead down to six points with less than a minute to go in the half, but UNA’s Quinn Beckwith responded with a three of his own to finalize the scoring of the first half.

UNA took a 55-46 lead into the locker room, shooting 50 percent from beyond the three-point line, almost 10 percent better than the Weevils for the half.

In the second half, the Weevils limited the Lion scoring to just over 30 points, but also shot a worse field goal percentage to allow the Lions to keep a comfortable lead. 

“At halftime, I thought that if we could limit North Alabama to around 30 points in the second half, we had a chance to win this one,” said UAM head coach Mike Newell. “Of course, we come out and stop making the shots that we were making in the first half to make a comeback near impossible.”

UAM dropped almost 10 percent in field goal percentage from the first half to the second half. In the first half, the Weevils hit 18 of 42 shots, while only making 9 of 27 shots in the second half.

Dean led all scorers with 24 points in the game, while also grabbing nine rebounds. Junior Deron Brown (Paris, Ky.) trailed with 16 points, including two three pointers, both in the first half. Junior leading scorer Raymond Wright (New York, N.Y.) scored 11 points and grabbed six rebounds in a game which he was double teamed from the tip-off.

The Weevils end their season with an overall record of 17-12 and 8-6 in the GSC. “I am very proud of this group, and I thought we had a great season,” said Newell. “We need to get at least one more forward and a couple guards to increase our depth so we can play guys in the right positions, but I am very excited that we will have all of these guys back next season…there are always areas for improvement, and we have plenty to work on in the off-season.”