JOPLIN, Mo. – Alex Brown scored a team-high 32 points, leading a cast of four Wonder Boys basketball players to reach double figures as Arkansas Tech (4-2) picked up a 103-92 win over Missouri Southern (8-2) on Monday night at the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.
 
NEXT UP
The Wonder Boys will return to action on Saturday, December 31, hosting Missouri S&T at Tucker Coliseum. A 1 p.m. tip is scheduled.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• After the two teams played even basketball over the first three minutes of the game, Tech outscored MSSU 11-5 over the next four minutes to take a 17-11 lead with 13:21 remaining in the opening half.
• That six-point lead would be Tech's biggest lead of the half.
• MSSU clawed back and tied the game at 24-24 with 7:44 to play before halftime.
• The Lions would tie the contest five more times before pulling ahead briefly, leading by as many as three (46-43) with 1:26 to play.
• Tech closed the half on a 5-0 run and took a 48-46 lead into the break, and stretched the run to eight as a 3-pointer by Brown pushed Tech's lead to five in the opening minute of the second half.
• MSSU used a 6-0 run to reclaim the lead at 59-57 with 17:06 remaining in the game.
• Tech reclaimed the lead just three minutes later, using an 8-0 run to pull ahead 67-61 with 14:06 remaining.
• The Wonder Boys pushed ahead by nine (82-73) with 7:50 remaining before MSSU narrowed the gap slightly, pulling to within four (84-80) just over a minute later. Tech answered by stretching its lead back to nine (89-80) as Prusator buried an off-balance 3-pointer in the corner with 5:38 to play.
• Tech continued its run, as Justin Graham hit a pair of free-throws to give Tech an 11-point (91-80) lead with 4:29 to play – its largest lead to that point.
• The Wonder Boys took a 12-point (94-82) lead with 2:49 to play after Graham converted a 3-point play, and Tech extended its lead to as many as 15 in the final two minutes, hitting the century mark on a Trevin Woods free throw in the final minute.

NOTABLES

• Brown led all players with his 32 points. Grant Prusator pitched in 23 points, Freddy Lee added 14, and Justin Graham added 11.
• Graham added 10 assists for a double-double.
• Bennie Lufile just missed a double-double with nine points and 13 rebounds.
• Missouri Southern controlled the action in the paint in the opening half, outscoring Tech 22-10.
• Alex Brown hit for 14 points in the opening half, while both Montrell Williams and Freddy Lee hit for eight points in the opening 20 minutes.
• Both teams shot well from the floor in the opening half, as MSSU shot 51.4 percent to Tech's 50 percent.
• Tech forced seven Lion turnovers in the opening half.
• There were six ties and nine lead changes in the first half.
• Tech torched the nets in the second half, shooting 62.1 percent from the floor.
• MSSU held a 38-28 advantage in points in the paint, a 13-7 advantage in points off turnovers, a 21-14 advantage in second-chance points, and a 14-7 advantage in fast-break points, while also controlling the rebounding glass 42-37.
• The Wonder Boys outshot MSSU 55.6 to 42.9 percent from the floor, slowing the Lions from a 51.4 percent clip in the first half to a 35.7 percent clip in the second half.

COACH KLINE SAYS

• On the team's offensive performance – "We knew we were going to have opportunities. We had opportunities the last couple games and haven't knocked them down. The defense that they play, they try to get out there and pressure you, so we knew that if our point guards could get past one and get downhill, we could kick it out and kind of play 'horse.'"
• On the performance of Alex Brown – "If you haven't ever seen him play you'd think he's taking bad shots but he practices those shots every day on his own. In the second half, there wasn't much we had to do other than get him the ball and get out of the way."