MONTICELLO -- The University of Arkansas at Monticello men's basketball team claimed its first Great American Conference Tournament title Sunday with a 75-74 win over Southern Arkansas University at Steelman Field House.
Dajuan Jones delivered the title for the Boll Weevils by driving through the lane for a layup with 3.5 seconds remaining.
In its third trip to the GAC finals in five seasons, UAM cut down the nets and hoisted the trophy for the first time as a member of the league.
The game got off to a rocky start for the Weevils (16-4, 12-4 GAC), who fell behind 9-2 with 15:03 to play in the first half. UAM managed to regroup and cut the deficit to two, but SAU (15-5, 12-4 GAC) put together another run, pushing its lead to 22-11 with less than eight minutes remaining in the half.
The Weevils took their first lead, 25-24, on a three-pointer from Kendal Frey with 3:30 to go in the first half. And it was UAM on top at the break, 30-29.
The first four minutes of the second half saw three ties before UAM built its largest lead with a 5-0 run with just under 16 minutes remaining.
After another several minutes of back-and-forth action, the Weevils found themselves trailing 61-56 with under eight minutes to play. UAM bounced back to knot the score at 63 when Miles Daniels was fouled on a three-pointer and knocked down all three at the charity stripe.
Keyon Craddock drained a big shot from downtown with 4:03 remaining to put the Weevils up 69-65. UAM couldn't hold off the Muleriders as SAU battled right back to hold a three-point lead with 18 seconds left in the contest.
The Weevils took advantage of missed free throws in the closing seconds as Jones drove right down the lane for a layup to cut the deficit to one with 11 seconds left after SAU went 1-for-2 at the free throw line.
Moments later, the Muleriders missed both attempts at the charity stripe. After grabbing the rebound, Daniels made a quick outlet pass to Jones, who raced all the way down the floor for a layup to put the Weevils on top 75-74 with 3.5 seconds remaining.
UAM forced an SAU miss at the buzzer to secure the victory.
Daniels and Denzel McDuffey earned All-GAC Tournament honors in addition to Jones, who also was voted the GAC Tournament MVP.
Jones led the Weevils in the title game with 22 points to go along with 7 assists and 3 steals.
Frey and McDuffey also finished in double digits, tallying 17 and 13 points, respectively.