MONTICELLO, Ark. – The University of Arkansas at Monticello took a 90-81 win over No. 22 Angelo State on Saturday at the Steelman Field House in the final non-conference game of the season for the Rams.

ASU (10-2) will take a 13-day break from game action before playing an exhibition game at UTEP on Jan. 4 before shifting attention to Lone Star Conference where it will open against No. 11 Tarleton State on Wednesday, Jan. 8 in Stephenville.

The Rams enter LSC play on a two-game skid after falling to the Weevils (8-2) after dropping a contest to Arkansas Tech on Thursday on their road trip to Arkansas. ASU had started the season with a program-best 10-0 record which also established the longest winning streak at any point in an Angelo State men's basketball season. UAM hit 10 3-pointers in the game and went 30 of 38 from the free-throw line.

"I thought our guys responded today and fought hard in a road game," ASU head coach Chris Beard said. "Give Monticello credit. They made shots, especially from the 3-point line.

"We are working hard on becoming a good team. I believe in our players. We have some high character guys. We will respond."

Chris Talkington and Kenny Williams led the Rams with 17 points each against UAM, while Daniel Skinner added 16 points and led the team with eight rebounds, four steals and six assists (all career-highs). Williams also had seven rebounds and blocked two shots for the Rams who shot 51.8 percent from the field and had nine players score. Talkington went 5 for 5 from beyond the arc, establishing a career-high for 3-pointers after he had hit four 3-pointers in four other games in his time at ASU. Bryan Hammond contributed six points and five assists.

Williams scored his 17 points in 23 minutes of play before being injured and not returning to the court.

"Obviously losing Kenny in the second half hurt us," Beard said. "He was playing well. But we had some other guys step up and contribute. Zach Jones had a good game (4 points, 2 assists) had a good game. It's a team game."

The Rams had a 23-10 advantage on second-chance points and outscored the Weevils 20-17 off the bench. Chantz Chambers led the ASU reserves with eight points in 12 minutes of play, while Reggie Sutton went 3 of 4 from the field and added six points and four rebounds.

Jared Harrison led Arkansas-Monticello with 23 points, including going 5 of 6 from beyond the arc and 6-for-6 from the free-throw line. UAM shot 62.5 percent on 3-pointers (10 of 16) with Brandon Sims scoring 17 points with two 3-pointers and Sharif Hudson hitting three 3-pointers and finishing with 11 points. The Weevils finished the game shooting 46.3 percent from the field and held a slim 33-32 rebound advantage in the statistically even game.

Angelo State started out strong, leading 20-9 six minutes into the game after Talkington hit his second 3-pointer of the game. ASU would go up 12 on his third three of the game just 35 seconds later, but the Weevils slowly began chipping away and would pull to within five at 25-20 on a pair of Dayton Mickens free throws with 9:36 to play in the first half. Two more free throws, this time by Sims tied the game at 29 with 5:51 remaining and the Weevils would take a 44-40 halftime advantage after hitting seven 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes and overcome the Rams shooting 60 percent in the half.

The four-point halftime lead grew to 11 with a Brandon Wilson layup to take the score to 67-56 with 10:47 remaining in the game, but Talkington's prowess behind the arc continued as he hit his fourth 3-pointer to cut the Rams' deficit to 72-65 with a little over six minutes remaining. Hammond cut it to a six-point deficit and was followed by Zach Jones who hit a hook shot to trim the game to 74-70 with four minutes to play. The Weevil went on a 6-0 run, assisted by four straight free throws from Jared Harrison to take an 80-70 lead.

"Our opponents shot 75 free throws in our two games on the road in Arkansas," Beard said. "We don't believe in excuses. We don't believe in talking about officiating. We will study this game film, coach better on not fouling and our players will improve on defending without fouling."

ASU would get as close as four down the stretch when Chambers hit a pair of free throws with 43 seconds remaining, but UAM closed the game hitting 5 of 6 from the line.  The Rams fell to 4-2 this season away from San Angelo.