RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Ke'lyn Adams entered Saturday afternoon's game against Arkansas-Monticello as the team's third-leading scorer at 11.2 ppg, but the senior guard only scored two points against UAM. Fortunately for Arkansas Tech, his two points were the most important of the game as they came at the free throw line with just over a second left in overtime and with the Wonder Boys trailing by a point.
 
Adams' clutch makes from the charity stripe flipped the one-point deficit into a one-point advantage for the Wonder Boys (4-3, 2-3 GAC) and quickly turned into the game-winning points as the Boll Weevils (4-2, 3-2 GAC) were unable to get off a last-ditch shot before the game clock expired.
 
The season series between the two teams is now tied at a game apiece.
 
Prior to the trip to the line by Adams, the Wonder Boys had to overcome a slow offensive start as they were without a point until the 12:48 mark of the first half. Despite the drought to open the game, the Wonder Boys were solid on the defensive end and allowed the Boll Weevils to only score eight points.
 
The largest lead of the game for the Boll Weevils came on the ensuing possession of the Wonder Boys' first points as they hit a three-pointer to take a nine-point advantage, 11-2 with 12:35 to play in the opening half. The Wonder Boys, however, responded and began to get to work on a methodical 10-0 run over the next five minutes of game action that gave them their first lead of the game, 12-11 with 7:26 on the clock.
 
The lead then changed hands on five-straight occasions with the final change going for UAM at the 4:48 mark of the first half. The Boll Weevils would remain in front the rest of the half, but thanks to one of six made three-pointers by Cejay Mann in the game, the deficit for the Wonder Boys was only a point heading into the locker room.
 
Early action in the second half saw Mann bury two more trifectas and gave the Wonder Boys a one-point lead, 29-28 with 18:55 to play in regulation. The Boll Weevils soon thereafter grabbed the lead once more and remained out in front for a chunk of the ensuing action.
 
The deficit during that time was not insurmountable for the Wonder Boys as they kept the game within reach. Trailing by eight points with 9:32 on the clock, the Wonder Boys pulled within a point just a minute later thanks to a pair of layups by Niko Gosnell and a three-pointer in-between by Tony Hall.
 
UAM stemmed the Wonder Boys tide at that point and rebuilt their lead out to as much as seven points, 54-47, with just over four minutes left in regulation.
 
A trio of makes from beyond the arc by the Wonder Boys and pair of made free throws by the Boll Weevils over the next two minutes or so of game action knotted the game at 56-all. Of those three trifectas by the Wonder Boys, Hall was responsible for the first, Mann the second and Cameron Kennedy for the final one of the sequence.
 
The Boll Weevils would not relinquish the lead, however, and went ahead by a bucket on their ensuing trip down the floor following Kennedy's game-tying triple.
 
With 45 seconds remaining, Kennedy was in the right place at the right time on the offensive glass and cleaned up an initial miss for another game-tying bucket, this one on the interior. UAM would get two more chances to push ahead in regulation but missed both as the game played into overtime.
 
In the overtime, both teams traded baskets on their first possessions and then traded points once more to keep the game knotted up, now with 2:08 left in the extra period.
 
With 1:38 on the clock, the Wonder Boys took a one-point lead on a split trip to the free throw line by Hall. The Boll Weevils quickly answered with a layup on the other end to flip the lead in their favor.
 
Following a miss by the Boll Weevils with under 40 seconds to play, the Wonder Boys pulled down the defensive rebound and pushed the ball across the timeline before calling a timeout to set up for a final play.
 
Allowing the shot and game clock to dwindle as far as possible, the Wonder Boys got their final shot attempt off with about two seconds left. The initial shot did not fall, but it was Adams who was there on the offensive glass. Following his rebound, Adams was then fouled on a put-back attempt that did not fall, sending him to the line with the game in the balance.
 
Despite the pressure of the moment and with a UAM called timeout in-between, Adams, who entered play as an 88% free throw shooter, was clutch and buried both, giving the Wonder Boys their aforementioned one-point victory.
 
Statistically, the Wonder Boy shot 43% overall from the floor (23-of-54), 44% from three-point range (10-of-23) and 64% from the charity stripe (9-of-14). Defensively, they held UAM to 36% shooting overall (22-of-62) and 25% from three-point range (5-of-20).
 
Individually, the Wonder Boys had three players score in double figures with Mann leading the way with 22 points, setting another new career-high. Mann did most all of his damage from three-point range as he was 6-of-10 from deep. Behind Mann in scoring was Hall with 14 points. Gosnell rounded out double-figure scoring with 10 points off the bench.
 
The Wonder Boys will now prepare for a road game at Harding on Monday, January 25. Tip-off is scheduled for around 7:30 p.m. in Searcy.