ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — Henderson State fell behind Arkansas-Monticello early on Saturday afternoon and was never able to recover, as UAM defeated the Reddies 87-74 at the Duke Wells Center.

Raekwon Rogers was a bright spot for HSU and finished with a season-high 22 points and eight rebounds. Malik Riddle and Damian Dear, who each recorded their first starts of the year, added 16 and 15, respectively, while Jeremiah Toney chipped in 13.

It was a rocky start for the Reddies (1-3) at home as UAM hit 11 of its first 17 shots from the floor and raced out to a 26-12 lead. The lead grew as large as 34-19 for UAM with 3:42 to go until halftime, but HSU refused to roll over, and used a 13-8 spurt down the stretch of the half to close the gap to 42-32 at the break. 

Dear and Rogers helped keep the Reddies afloat in the opening 20 minutes. The duo combined to make eight of Henderson's nine field goals in the period and score 26 of its 32 points. UAM shot a blistering 59% in the first half while HSU finished just 9-of-26 from the floor with 10 turnovers.

Despite a tough opening period, Henderson State came out with tons of energy to begin the second and scored the first two buckets of the half to close the deficit to 42-36 — the closest the game had been since the early going. The Weevils answered the HSU run with a spurt of their own, however, which extended their lead back out to 51-41 with 13:58 to go.

Although the Reddies scrapped, UAM was able to keep Henderson at an arm's length over the next several minutes, and used a 3-pointer from Miles Daniels to take its largest lead of the second half, 69-55, with just 5:57 remaining in the game. That deficit proved to be too much for HSU, who was never able to get within single digits down the stretch and fell to 1-3 on the year.

Henderson out-rebounded UAM 40-22 but shot just 41% from the floor compared to the Weevils' 56%. Monticello out-scored the Reddies 26-7 in points off of turnovers and 15-2 in bench scoring.

The Reddies return to action on Thursday when they host Arkansas Tech at 7 p.m. in the Duke Wells Center.