Two players had career nights Thursday for the UAA men’s basketball team, but it wasn’t enough to carry the Seawolves to victory.
Arkansas-Monticello scored its final six points from the free throw line to hold off the Seawolves 83-74 at the D2 Power Invitational in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Sophomore guard Tobin Karlberg poured in a career-high 21 points and junior guard DeAndre Osuigwe scored a career-best 16 points to lead UAA.
Karlberg, a Grace Christian graduate, hit 8 of 10 shots, including 5 of 7 from 3-point range. Osuigwe, a transfer from State College of Florida, added five rebounds and four assists while hitting 6 of 12 shots, including 3 of 6 triples.
Those two, along with Tyrus Hosley (14 points on 6 of 10 shooting), shot a combined 20 of 32 from the field. The rest of the team shot 8 of 29.
UAA dropped to 8-3 on the season; Monticello of the Great American Conference improved to 9-2.
The Seawolves trailed by as many as 17 points late in the first half, but outscored Monticello 26-6 over the next 10 minutes to seize a 55-54 lead a little more than six minutes into the second half.
The Boll Weevils answered with a 11-0 run — UAA missed seven shots during that span — to lead 65-55 midway through the second half.
UAA cut the lead to five points on a couple of occasions, including 79-74 on Oggie Pantovic’s jumper with 1:25 left in the game. Amari Hale missed a 3-pointer that would have made it a one possession game and the Boll Weevils iced the game from the foul line.
“We lost to a good team today,” UAA coach Rusty Osborne said in a release from the school. “I was proud of our resiliency to fight back, but we ended up shorthanded as David (Riley) is fighting an ankle injury and Jack (Macdonald) a virus which kept him out of the second half. We will regroup and come back tomorrow.”
The Boll Weevils owned a 36-30 rebounding advantage and benefited from 21 turnovers by the Seawolves. Leading the way for the winners were K.J. Lesure with 24 points and Denzel McDuffey with 17 points, nine rebounds and two blocks.
UAA meets Southeastern Oklahoma, the 21st-ranked team in Division II, in a Friday game at the Hawaii Convention Center.