Contact: Houston Taylor
MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Southern Arkansas used its best defensive performance of the season to knock off high-flying Arkansas-Monticello, 76-73, in Great American Conference action Monday at the W.T. Watson Athletic Center.
The Muleriders have won three of their past four games to improve to 11-7 and 4-2 in the GAC, while the Boll Weevils had won eight of their past nine and drop to 14-4 and 4-2.
SAU senior forward Casey Cheshier (Frisco, Texas) led all players with 18 points and pulled down four rebounds. Sophomore center Juvon Demerson (Midland, Texas) scored 15 points and had four rebounds, and junior guard Rodney Hill (Shreveport, La.) added 15 points, shared a team-high five rebounds, and dished out a game-high seven assists.
Senior forward Ricardo Hall and junior guard Kori Forge each scored 17 points to lead UAM, with Hall also serving up six assists. Senior guard Sergio Crowe chipped in 16 points, and senior guard L.A. Farmer added 15.
Southern Arkansas built itself a 16-point second half lead, but had to fight off an expected late charge from Arkansas-Monticello. The Boll Weevils missed three three-pointers to tie it in the final 14 seconds of the game.
The Muleriders led throughout, with the only tie a 2-2 game at the beginning. SAU was up 40-31 at halftime.
Southern Arkansas went on a 13-6 spree to start the second half, with senior forward Chase Spruiell’s (Princeton, Texas) trey giving them its largest lead of 53-37 at 15:35. Farmer answered with a three of his own seconds later to ignite a 20-5 UAM run that pulled them to within 58-57 on two free throws from him at 9:31. The Muleriders rallied with an 11-3 run for a 69-60 advantage at 6:54 and led by at least five points the rest of the way until Forge’s lay-up set the final margin of 76-73 with a little over a minute left.
Arkansas-Monticello came into the contest shooting 49 percent from the floor, including 41 percent from beyond the arc, but SAU limited them to 32.2 percent on 19 of 59 and held them to 32.1 percent on 9 of 28 three-pointers, both season-lows for the Southern Arkansas defense.
The Muleriders shot a sizzling 51 percent from the floor on 25 of 49, and were at 41.7 percent on 5 of 12 treys.
SAU connected on 21 of 24 free throws for 87.5 percent, and the Boll Weevils 26 of 37 for 70.3 percent.
Southern Arkansas had 12-point leads of 32-20 and 37-25 in the final four minutes of the first half before UAM pulled to within nine points at the break.
Arkansas-Monticello held a 41-31 rebound advantage behind junior forward A.J. Calhoun’s game-high 16. Calhoun had 11 offensive rebounds. Spruiell grabbed five boards for the Muleriders.
The win moved SAU into a four-way tie, along with the Boll Weevils, Arkansas Tech and Ouachita Baptist, for second in the GAC standings, behind Henderson State (5-1 GAC).
Through with its three-game home stand, Southern Arkansas hits the road Thursday to Arkadelphia for a 7:30 p.m. match-up with the Reddies.
