RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. — Thomas Alexander came off the bench to score a career-high 26 points as the Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys basketball team (4-2, 2-1 Great American Conference) rolled to an 85-60 win over Oklahoma Baptist (3-2, 1-2 GAC) on Thursday evening at Tucker Coliseum.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The two teams traded leads over the first three minutes of the contest, but a 3-pointer by Nick Wayman started Tech on a 9-0 run that saw the Wonder Boys claim a seven-point (13-6) lead with 14:44 to play in the opening half.
• OBU cut the Tech lead to 22-21 with 7:38 to play after back-to-back 3-pointers by Steven Green.
• Another 9-0 run by the Wonder Boys gave Tech a 31-21 lead with 2:19 to play in the half.
• OBU was able to cut the Tech lead to seven (34-27) at half.
• After the Bison narrowed the Tech lead to four (57-53) with 10:28 to play, the Wonder Boys outscored OBU 28-7 for the remainder of the game to cruise to the win.

NOTABLES

• Thomas Alexander surpassed his previous career-high in points (14) in the first half.
• The Wonder Boys held an 18-2 advantage in points in the paint in the second half and an 11-2 advantage in second-chance points in the same time period.
• Tech held a 48-3 advantage in bench points for the contest.
• The Wonder Boys outscored OBU 34-12 in the paint and 15-5 on second-chance buckets.
• The final margin of 25 points was the game's largest lead for Arkansas Tech.
• Joining Alexander in double figures were Marquis Yates (12 points) and Nick Wayman (11 points).
• Bryson Fletcher and Tyrone Haughton tied for the team lead with seven boards. Haughton also added seven points and four blocks.

COACH KLINE SAYS

• On the team's depth and conditioning: "We play a lot more guys than they do. We knew that coming in they would play six or seven guys, but we knew we had to stay with our game plans. You score so many more points quicker in basketball than in other sports. We felt like it would be a tight game for 30-35 minutes, and then hoped our depth would wear them down late in the game."
• On Thomas Alexander's career night: "I think we're deep. It's going to be a different guy every night. We're not a traditional team. With us, there could be five, six, seven different guys that could step up. Whoever it is on a certain night, that's who we're going to ride that night."
• On Tyrone Haughton's play: "He changes the game for sure. Four blocked shots – that's like four turnovers, basically. It's four shots that don't get a chance to go to the rim. What doesn't even show up in the stats is how many shots he alters. We didn't know if he was going to play tonight – he hasn't been feeling well – he told me he wanted to play and he'd cry after the game, he wasn't worried about that. I'm obviously glad he did. He was a huge impact."
• On the quick conference turnarounds: "If we're not ready for Saturday we'll get our tails kicked, because Southern Nazarene is a top-four team in this league and maybe even better than that. They've got eight or nine returning guys and they're in mid-season form right now. I would expect that they're going to come out ready to rebound on Saturday. We've got to play our game, stay the course, and play a 40-minute game. As long as we rebound, I like our chances."

WHO'S NEXT

• Arkansas Tech plays host to Southern Nazarene on Saturday, Dec. 5 at 3 p.m.