DURANT, Okla. – Marquis Yates turned in a 22-point performance, leading a cast of four Wonder Boys in double figures as the Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys basketball team (9-2, 4-1 Great American Conference) rolled to a 91-64 win over Southeastern Oklahoma (4-7, 2-2 GAC) on Thursday night at Bloomer Sullivan Arena.

NEXT UP

• Arkansas Tech continues its Oklahoma swing with a 3 p.m. game at East Central on Saturday, Jan. 9.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Tech held Southeastern off the scoreboard for the first 3:15 of the game, opening the game on a 9-0 run. Southeastern picked up its first bucket at the 16:45 mark on a 3-pointer by Quinton Threadgill.
• The Wonder Boys continued the momentum through the opening minutes of the half – leading 18-8 at the under-12 media timeout.
• Tech led by as many as 13 (18-5) with 13:15 to play before the Savage Storm were able to narrow the gap to five (18-13) with 10:15 to play. Tech snapped the 8-0 SE run with a bucket by DeChriston McKinney with 9:56 to go in the half.
• Tech continued to stretch its lead, leading by as many as 21 (41-20) with 2:42 to go in the half. The Savage Storm closed the half on an 8-2 streak to cut the Southeastern deficit to 15 (43-28) at the half.
• The Wonder Boys went on a 15-4 run over the first five minutes of the second half to push their lead to 26 (58-32).
• Tech held Southeastern at arm's length down the stretch to hold on for the win.

NOTABLES

• Yates reached double figures in points for the ninth time this season.
• Andrew Guillory (13 points), DeChriston McKinney (11 points), and Bryson Fletcher (11 points) all reached double figures in points for the Wonder Boys. Tobe Okafor led Tech with nine rebounds.
• Guillory dished out five assists and had seven rebounds as well in the winning effort.
• Tech led the game wire-to-wire.
• Tech outshot Southeastern 48 to 32 percent, and outrebounded the Savage Storm 46 to 35.

COACH KLINE SAYS

• On something – "We knew we were going to have to do that. We've seen this team on film, and they're a lot better than their record. They've lost five games in a row, and we knew with them coming home they were going to play as hard as they could. I thought we played as hard as we could, and that was the difference in the game. I was proud of our team not thinking that was just coach talk trying to hype them up – they bought in."
• On the defensive success – "We're pretty good at guarding the 3-point line, and it's a credit to our guys paying attention to scouting reports. You have to make them score where they normally don't score. If it's a 3-point shooter, run them off the line and see if they can make a mid-range shooter… when you're running guys off the 3-point line and not giving up layups, they have to take 15-foot jumpers which kids rarely practice these days. Tobe (Okafor) may not show up in the stats, but he alters so many shots and is becoming a beast on the defensive end… it's almost like playing 6-on-5 on defense."
• On the play of Marquis Yates – "He's not taking so many hard shots. He's a scorer, and he's one of our guys with a scoring mentality. There are enough possessions in the game that they're going to get their shots, and when you take good shots you get higher percentages."