FORT SMITH, Ark. – All five members of the St. Edward's men's basketball team scored in double figures in an 80-76 victory over the University of Arkansas Fort Smith Lions to sweep the two-game road trip. 

BLAKE NIELSEN and JEFF GARY led the Hilltoppers with 15 points each, followed by Sean Ekinton's 13 points and seven rebounds, with GAVINO RAMOS and UCHE DIBIAMAKA scoring 10 each. Reserve guard Uzo Dibiamka added nine points on 3-for-4 shooting. 

St. Edward's opened the game shaky on both sides of the ball, missing six of its first seven shots, while Arkansas Fort Smith hit 5-of-5 to take an early 11-2 lead. 

BLAKE NIELSEN sparked the Hilltoppers with a hook shot and assisted Ramos for a 3-pointer as St. Edward's scored 20 of the following 30 points to overtake the Lions on a Gary jumper for a 22-21 lead. From there, both teams exchanged runs with three lead changes and six ties in the half until Gary hit a pair of free throws just before time expired to give St. Edward's a 38-36 lead at the break. 

Arkansas Fort Smith's Payton Brown led all scorers with 13 points on 4-for-6 shooting and four free throws. Gary and Nielsen led the Hilltoppers with eight points each, combining to shoot 10-for-10 from the free-throw line. Nielsen added three assists. Uzo Dibiamaka and MASON HIX combined for three 3-pointers off the bench in the half. 

Brown tied the game at 38 on a jumper on the Lions' first possession of the second half, but Gary responded with a 3-pointer to put St. Edward's up for good. After that, neither team made a big run, but the Hilltoppers slowly built an 11-point lead with 14:06 remaining on a layup by Elkinton on a feed from Gary. 

The Hilltoppers couldn't gain much separation from the Lions, but were able to keep the lead greater than five points for most of the game until Arkansas Fort Smith made a 7-0 run to pull within one at 74-73 with 2:31 remaining. 

However, St. Edward's closed the game on a 6-3 run led by a layup and free throw from Elkinton. Garry added a pair of free throws, and Nielsen hit 1-of-2. 

In a tightly contested game, the Hilltoppers won on the margins, outscoring the Lions by nine from the 3-point line and three from the free-throw line. 

St. Edward's improves to 14-5 this season with an 8-2 conference record. The Hilltoppers will return home to host Texas Permian Basin on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.