FORGE LEADS BOLL WEEVILS PAST SOUTHWEST BAPTIST

Courtesy University of Arkansas at Monticello Athetics Department

MONTICELLO – Boll Weevils Senior Kori Forge scored a career-high 36 points and the University of Arkansas at Monticello men’s basketball team shot 56 percent from the field in a 79-71 victory over Southwest Baptist on Monday at home in the final non-conference game of the 2012-13 season and the final game before the holiday break.

Forge ended the night 12-of-19 from the field, 6-of-12 on three-pointers and 6-of-7 on foul shots to go along with his eight assists, three steals and two rebounds. Senior A.J. Calhoun also reached double-digits in scoring for UAM (6-4) with 15 points, while adding a game-high nine rebounds.

UAM jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead in the first three minutes and extended that lead to double-digits at 19-8 on a fast-break layup from junior Jamal Nixon at the 13:32 mark. The Bearcats (2-8) responded with a three-pointer from Preston Guiot and a pair of made free-throws from Gilbert Gyamfi over the next two minutes to trim UAM’s lead to six points with 11:24 remaining in the first half.

UAM answered with a 7-0 scoring run to grab its largest lead of the opening period following a layup from Forge at the 8:36 mark.

SBU used back-to-back three-pointers from Guiot and Ricky Odige to pull to within four points with 3:09 remaining in the first half, and kept UAM’s lead to single-digits for the remainder of the first half before taking the lead on two different occasions in the first three minutes of the second half.

The Boll Weevils got back on top by double-digits with 11:56 remaining in regulation and used a 26-9 scoring run over a period of 10 minutes to grab its largest lead of 20 points with 4:02 remaining with the score 76-56.

The Bearcats closed out the game outscoring UAM 15-3 to give UAM an eight-point victory. Monday’s win over SBU evened the season series between the two teams. The Bearcats beat the Weevils 78-69 on earlier this season in Bolivar, Mo.

As a team, UAM finished the game at 56 percent from the field (32-of-57), 33 percent on three-pointers (7-of-21) and 73 percent on foul shots (8-of-11). SBU shot 34 percent from the field (24-of-70), 33 percent on three-pointers (13-of-39) and 71 percent on foul shots (10-of-14).

Rasha Brown-Peterson led the Bearcats in scoring with 16 points off the bench. Ricky Odige and Gilbert Gyamfi also reached double-digits with 13 and 12 points, respectively.

Following the holiday break, the Boll Weevils are back to Great American Conference action in Ada, Okla, against East Central on January 3. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.