MELBOURNE, Fla. – The Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys used a huge second-half surge to pull away with a 76-61 victory over Nova Southeastern to open the Florida Tech Winter Classic in Melbourne, Fla. Friday afternoon.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Wonder Boys offense started off the game with some hot shooting, opening the game with 17-8 run in the first 4:29. Andrew Guillory scored seven of the first 17 points for the Wonder Boys, converting on 3-of-4 shots while the Wonder Boys as a team shot on 7-of-8 from the field.
• The Sharks rallied back to take the lead at 24-21 at the 10:09 mark of the first half, outscoring the Wonder Boys 16-5 during that stretch.
• The Wonder Boys battled back to take the lead at 28-27 on a Bryson Fletcher jumper and would stretch the lead to as much as four on a Tyler Corley layup with 2:31 to go in the half.
• Both teams closed out the half by exchanging the lead back-and-forth. Nova Southeastern knocked down a three with 38 seconds left to take a 38-37 lead, but junior guard Marquis Yates answered on the other end with a three-pointer from the top of the key with six seconds remaining to give the Wonder Boys a 40-38 lead at halftime.
• After the Sharks tied it up at 40 to open the second half, Tech rallied with a 19-5 run to grab a 59-45 with 10:45 to go in the second half. Guillory and Nick Wayman combined to score 13 of the 19 Tech points during the run.
• The Wonder Boys stretched the lead to 22 points with 6:09 to go on a Yates three-pointer to make it 76-54, their largest lead of the game.
• Arkansas Tech did not score a single point in the final 6:09 of the game, but the defense held Nova Southeastern to just seven points during the final stretch to come away with the 76-61 win.

NOTABLES

• Andrew Guillory led the Wonder Boys offense with 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting and 2-of-4 from behind the arc. Guillory was one rebound short of a double-double as he also gathered nine rebounds and dished out four assists.
• While Guillory did his damage in the first half with 12 points, Yates was the big scorer in the second half for the Wonder Boys. Yates scored 10 of his 18 points in the second half on 4-of-6 shooting and 2-of-3 from three-point range.
• The Sharks lived and died from the three-point arc. After going 10-for-18 from three in the first half to stick with the Wonder Boys, NSU's three-point shooting went cold in the second half as they only converted on 2-of-12 from three.
• The Wonder Boys won decisively in the paint, outrebounding the Sharks 48-27 for the game. DeChriston McKinney led the Wonder Boys with 11 rebounds and Wayman added 10 boards.
• Offensively, the Wonder Boys were efficient from the field. Tech shot 52-percent from the field and 56-percent in the second half, including a 6-for-12 (50-percent) performance from behind the arc.
• The Wonder Boys defense clamped down on the Sharks in the second half, only giving up 23 points on 10-of-33 (30-percent) from the field and only 16-percent from behind the arc.

WHO'S NEXT
Arkansas Tech will take on the host institution, Florida Tech in their final game at the Winter Classic tomorrow. Tipoff for tomorrow's game will be at 1:30 p.m.