RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Playing at home inside Tucker Coliseum for the first time this season, the Arkansas Tech men's basketball team treated its fans to an overall great night of action on both ends of the court; ultimately ending the evening with a comfortable 20-point victory over Missouri Southern on Tuesday night.
 
Prior to tip-off of the non-conference in-region clash, it appeared that the biggest question that would need to be answered was which style of play would ultimately prevail. Entering the game, Missouri Southern, through four games, was averaging 87.0 ppg on offense, but were allowing 91.0 ppg on defense. Tech, on the other hand, through two games, had been playing relatively low-scoring games as they were averaging 68.0 ppg on offense and allowing 66.0 ppg on defense.
 
As Tuesday night played out, it became clear that the Wonder Boys' (2-1) style would ultimately prevail.
 
Early on in the game, however, it appeared as though Missouri Southern's style may win out as they went on a 9-0 run right after Tech scored the opening bucket of the game. That initial scoring run by the Lions (2-3) was capped on a three-pointer by Alex Jones at the 15:12 mark and prompted a timeout call by Tech.
 
Out of the timeout, the Wonder Boys went on a scoring run of their own and within three minutes of game time Tech had turned a seven-point deficit into a two-point lead. Cameron Kennedy started the run on a three-pointer at the 14:52 mark and Taelon Peter capped with a trifecta of his own at the 12:04 mark.
 
The Lions answered Peter's three with one of their own on their next trip down the floor to flip the score in their advantage once more, 12-11, with 11:03 left in the first half. That would end up being the final lead of the game for the Lions as a layup by Tony Hall at the 9:57 mark put the Wonder Boys back in the lead.
 
For the remainder of the first half, the Wonder Boys continued to play solid defense and as a result were able to gain control of the game as the offense started create some separation. In that first half, the Wonder Boys held Missouri Southern to just 32% shooting overall from the floor (9-of-28) and 23% shooting from three-point range (3-of-13). On their end, Tech shot 38% overall from the floor (12-of-32) and 38% from three-point range (3-of-8).
 
In the second half, the Wonder Boys came out on fire and prior to the under-16 media timeout had built a double-digit lead. Methodically as the second half wore on, the Wonder Boys remained firmly in control and pushed their lead out as large as 20 points on several occasions with the final instance coming on a layup by Kevin Howard with just over 30 seconds left to bring the score to its final of 74-54.
 
Statistically, the Wonder Boys had four players reach double figures in scoring. Czar Perry and Taelon Peter led the way with 14 points each. Perry was 7-of-18 overall from the floor with all his makes coming inside the arc. Perter was 4-of-8 overall with three of his makes coming long range. Tony Hall was next in scoring with 13 and Cejay Mann rounded out double-figure scoring with 10 points.
 
The Wonder Boys will now prepare for a holiday road trip to San Angelo, Texas where they will take part in the Ed Messbarger Classic. The two-day classic will see Tech take on Texas A&M-Kingsville first on Friday, November 26 at 5 p.m. and then close out with host-school Angelo State on Saturday, November 27 at 7 p.m.