Box Score BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – Mike Balogun scored a career-high 33 points, Jay Murphy turned in a 16-point effort, Clarence Willard scored 15 points with five boards while D.J. Jethroe added a 11-point, eight-rebound performance as the Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys basketball team (18-13) captured the Great American Conference championship with an 80-77 win over East Central (21-10) on Sunday at the Bruin Fieldhouse.

By virtue of their conference title, the Wonder Boys have earned the Great American Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The field is expected to be announced later this evening.

The Tigers seized the momentum early and opened up a 17-7 lead six minutes into the contest. However, the Wonder Boys rallied, outscoring ECU 14-3 over the next four minutes to claim a 21-20 lead at the 10:03 mark.

ECU again pushed ahead, using a 11-1 run to take a nine-point (31-22) lead with 8:32 remaining until halftime. Arkansas Tech again rallied, chipping away at the ECU lead until
Balogun's 3-pointer with four seconds remaining in the half brought the Wonder Boys to within one point (40-39) at the half.

The Tigers held the momentum through the first few minutes of the second half, pulling ahead by as many as six (45-39) after a 3-pointer by Thomas Stirling, but again the Wonder Boys rallied, using an 8-0 run to claim a two-point (47-45) lead with 15:18 remaining in the contest.

The Wonder Boys would never trail again, as ECU was able to tie the game twice on the subsequent possessions, but Tech broke a 49-49 tie with 14:16 to play by using a 14-2 run to push the lead to 12 points (63-51) with 7:29 remaining.

The Tigers would not go quietly, however, cutting the Tech lead to single digits and narrowing the gap to one point (76-75) with 16 seconds to play after a 3-pointer by Donovan Halsel. Murphy buried a pair of 3-pointers to stretch the Tech lead to three, and on the next possession, the Wonder Boys fouled rather than allow ECU to take a potential game-tying 3-pointer.

ECU hit both freebies with eight seconds to play, and were forced to foul on the next possession.  Again, Murphy went to the line and calmly hit both shots to stretch the Tech lead back to three (80-77) with four seconds to play. On the ensuing possession, ECU attempted another potential game-tying 3-pointer, but the shot was well off target, sealing the conference title for the Wonder Boys.