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The University of Arkansas at Monticello Boll Weevils have posted consecutive road wins this past week against the East Central Tigers and the Southeastern Oklahoma State University Savage Storm.
Traveling to Ada, Oklahoma on Thursday, the Weevils would begin their two game Oklahoma trip against the East Central Tigers.
East Central would enter the contest with an overall record of 7-5 with a 2-4 Great American Conference record with the Weevils having an overall record of 5-7 and a 1-3 GAC record.
Josh Smith would get the Weevils on the board to begin the contest on a layup in the paint.
East Central would tie the contest 20 seconds later on their own layup.
The contest would remain close throughout the first half with the largest lead of the half being five points, first with 13:59 remaining in the half on a jumper by East Central’s Javaun Henderson gave the Tigers a 12-7 lead.
The Weevils would come back to end the half with a five point lead after a layup by Ashton Price with 43 seconds remaining broke a 21-21 tie and a three-pointer at the buzzer by Jakob Zenon put the Weevils up 26-21 at the break.
UAM would open the second half, scoring the first four points to increase their lead to nine points, 30-21.
The Weevils would maintain the lead, with their largest lead being 12 points on several occasions, before the Tigers would come back to take a one-point, 55-54, with 34 seconds remaining in the contest.
Ashton Price would connect on four consecutive free throws to put the Weevils up by three points, 58-55.
East Central would connect on a three-pointer with four seconds remaining to tie the contest at 55.
The Weevils would call a 30 second timeout after the East Central score, and with two seconds on the clock, Price would pull up for three to give the Weevils the three-point, 61-58, victory.
Leading the way for the Weevils was Ashton Price with 25 points, followed by Jakob Zenon and Josh Smith with 13 points each.
Bryson Hammond added four, Lamont Jackson with three, Issac Jackson with two, and Giancarlo Valdez rounding out the scoring with one point.
Continuing their Oklahoma road trip, the Weevils would next stop in Durant, Oklahoma to favce the Savage Storm of Southeastern Oklahoma State University.
The Savage Storm would enter the contest with an overall record of 4-9 and a 3-4 GAC record.
Southeastern would get on the board to begin the contest but Josh Smith would tie the contest at two at 19:20.
The half would remain close with the largest lead being a six point, 10-4, lead by Southeastern with 15:36 remaining in the half.
UAM would erase the six-point deficit and would get the final points of the half on a layup by Issac Jackson to end the half tied at 32.
Josh Smith would get the first points of the second half to break the tie, but Southeastern would tie the contest on the next made basket.
The teams would go back and forth for the remainder of the second half with the lead swapping back and forth.
With 4:43 remaining in the half, Josh Smith would connect on a layup to give the Weevils a three-point, 61-58, lead to place himself into the UAM history books.
With the layup, Smith would score his 30th point of the contest placing Smith into the 30 point club becoming the 14th player in school history to score 30 points in a single game.
The Weevils would maintain the lead for the remainder of the contest finishing the game with a five-point, 71-66, win to give the Weevils their second consecutive GAC victory.
Josh Smith led the way for the Weevils with 30 points, followed by Ashton Price with 16 and Issac Jackson with 12.
Giancarlo Valdez and Jakob Zenon each finished with five points with Felix Smedjeback rounding out the scoring with three.
The Weevils will return to Steelman Fieldhouse for this week's game with the Weevils hosting Northwestern Oklahoma State University on Thursday, January 15 at 7:30 pm.
The Rangers have lost their last three contests and have a 5-9 overall record and a 2-6 GAC record.
The Weevils will host Southwestern Oklahoma State University on Saturday, January 18, with a 3 pm tip scheduled.
Southwestern holds a 5-9 record and 2-6 in the GAC.
