ADA, Okla. – The Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys basketball team (12-13, 8-9 Great American Conference) was unable to overcome the hot shooting of East Central (17-8, 11-6 GAC) as the Tigers shot 62 percent from the floor in the second half to push to a 78-54 win over the Wonder Boys on Thursday at the Kerr Activities Center.

Tech controlled the momentum in the early going as Gary Gaskins scored the first six points, pushing the Wonder Boys out to a 6-2 lead two minutes into the contest. However, ECU seized the momentum back and claimed the lead at the 17:00 mark of the opening half, and the Tigers would not trail again.

ECU quickly stretched its lead to nine and pushed into the double digits before settling into half with a nine-point (31-22) lead.

The Tigers held the Wonder Boys at arm's length through the first ten minutes of the second half, but Tech was able to cut the ECU lead to eight (50-42) with 10:24 to play after a Tyler Friedel 3-pointer. The Tigers used a 9-0 run to stretch their lead to 17 (59-42), and ECU would never look back.

ECU held a 44-34 rebounding advantage, while connecting on 10 3-pointers.

Tyler Friedel was the Wonder Boys' leading scorer with 10 points.

The Wonder Boys return to action Saturday at Southeastern Oklahoma. A 3 p.m. tip is scheduled. Live video, statistics, and audio are available at www.arkansastechsports.com.