MONTICELLO, Ark. – Arkansas-Monticello shot 55% in the first half and made eight 3-pointers to pull away early and defeat Harding 104-80 Thursday at the Steelman Field House. It was the Great American Conference opener for both teams.

Arkansas-Monticello (3-1, 1-0) won its third straight game, and snapped Harding's three-game winning streak.

"I thought UAM played great," Harding head coach Jeff Morgan said. "We got off to a good start, but we didn't answer when they made their run."

The Weevils made five 3-pointers in a three-minute stretch early in the game to open a 19-9 lead. Marcus Gilbert's layup with 5:23 left in the half gave the Weevils a 49-23 advantage, their largest of the half.

Harding (3-2, 0-1) closed the first half on an 8-3 run to cut the halftime deficit to 55-37.

The Bisons pulled as close as 15 twice in the second half, but the Weevils continued to shoot well, hitting 63% of its second-half shots. UAM shot a season-high 58% for the game and reached the 100-point barrier for the second straight contest. The Weevils scored 109 against Champion Christian in their last outing.

"We could have had it under 10 inside the first media timeout of the second half, but we had some missed assignments on defense and that killed us," Morgan said.

Junior Romio Harvey, who entered the game as Division II's sixth-leading scorer, led Harding with 23 points, his fifth straight game with 20 or more to start the season. Emir Ahmedic added 12 points for the Bisons, and Gabriel Divic had 10.

Harvey was 7 of 16 from the field and made 7 of 8 free throws. Harding made nine 3-pointers, one off its season high, with three coming from Divic.

All five of Arkansas-Monticello's starters scored 12 points or more. KJ Lesure led all scorers with 26 points and eight assists, and Marcus Gilbert scored 22. Lesure made five of UAM's 12 3-pointers.

Harding will be back in action Saturday at 3 p.m. against Southern Arkansas in Magnolia, Arkansas.