RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. — As hot of a shooting squad as the Arkansas Tech men's basketball team has been over the past week, it was able to find a whole new level Saturday afternoon, scoring 23 unanswered points to come back and earn a comfortable victory over Henderson State, 76-54, in Great American Conference play at Tucker Coliseum.

Mike Balogun led the way with 14 points for the Wonder Boys (9-10, 5-6 GAC), while Tyler Friedel added 12 points and nine rebounds and Darrick Little chipped in with 11 points off the bench. In all, eight players netted at least six points for Tech, which snapped a four-game losing streak with the victory.

"Our last three games, against East Central and Harding we shot over 50 percent, and today we shot 45," head coach Chad Kline said. "I don't know if it's the individual work we've done, practicing shooting more, or if we're just getting lucky. But that's the name of the game, to put it in the goal."

Tech did just that against the Reddies (8-9, 5-6 GAC), converting on 24-of-53 field goals for the game, especially to start the second half. Trailing 38-30 with 2:03 left before the break after Henderson dominated the offensive glass, scoring 18 second-chance points in the first half, the Wonder Boys would take off from there. Clarence Willard popped a 3-pointer with six seconds on the clock to cut the halftime deficit to five, and then the hosts came out on fire in the second half, scoring the first 20 points to turn the five-point hole into a 15-point advantage.

Back-to-back 3-pointers from Balogun to start the half gave Tech the lead for good at 39-38 with 18:31 left. A steal from Friedel led to a three-point play from Jay Murphy — one of three Wonder Boys with eight points on the night, also adding five assists. A Nick Wayman layup was followed up by another trey out of Balogun, and Friedel's fourth 3 of the night made it 50-38 and Tech's lead wouldn't dip under double digits the rest of the way. A three-point play out of Little shot the score to 53-38 at the 13:58 mark, and although the Reddies would halt their 7:15 scoring drought 10 seconds later, the Wonder Boys remained in control. Henderson got it to as close as 55-42 with 13:21 to play, but Tech's shooters stayed hot, and were clutch at the free-throw line, sinking 15-of-20 in the second half.

"I thought we've done a good job recently of withstanding runs and going on runs of our own," Kline said. "I'm just happy for our guys, because it's been a tough season, and they haven't quit. They come to work every day, and I'm just happy to go in and see some smiling faces tonight. All the credit to the players. They've been working their tails off, not finger pointing, and not second guessing what we're trying to do. It's a good feeling for sure."

A back-and-forth first half saw 14 lead changes and four ties, as neither team could stretch a lead past two points until the Reddies went up 29-25 with 5:13 left in the half. During the commotion of the opening 15 minutes, Friedel kept his hot streak going, hitting three shots from behind the arc for nine points, and Gary Gaskins threw down a trio of dunks. Five of those six shots handed the Wonder Boys a new lead.

Tech starts a three-game road trip Thursday as they head to first-place Southern Arkansas for a 7:30 p.m. tip.