RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech men's basketball team's 2020-21 season came to an end on Monday night at home in the opening round of the Great American Conference Tournament. The No.4-seed Wonder Boys were edged out by No.5-seed Ouachita by a score of 70-69.
 
The Wonder Boys, who ended the first year in the return to the Tech sidelines for head coach Mark Downey at 7-11 overall, had a pair of opportunities to go-ahead of the Tigers (5-11) in the waning moments of the game, but neither shot attempt would fall.
 
The first of those opportunities came following a conventional three-point play by Niko Gosnell pulled the Wonder Boys to within a point, 70-69, with right at minute left to play. On the ensuing possession, Ouachita was content to let as much of the shot and game clock expire before putting up a shot. On that possession, the Tigers would draw a foul to go to the free throw line, but the Tigers were only in the single bonus, so they were shooting 1-and-1.
 
The Tigers would miss the front end of that trip to the line and Tony Hall for the Wonder Boys cleared the rebound. Now with under 30 seconds to play, the Wonder Boys could set up for a last-second field goal attempt to possibly win the game. The Wonder Boys would take that potential game-winning shot with six seconds left and it drew iron and led to a defensive rebound for the Tigers.
 
The Wonder Boys would quickly foul and had still not committed 10 fouls, so Ouachita went back to the line for another 1-and-1. Once more, the Tigers missed the front end and once more it was cleared by Hall, this time with 3.2 seconds left on the clock.
 
A called timeout by Downey immediately followed the board and set the stage for a full-court drive for another chance at a game-winner. In that short amount of time, the Wonder Boys were able to get the ball all the way to their three-point line and got off a shot before the horn sounded, but it too drew iron and did not fall, ending the Wonder Boys' season.
 
Overall, the game with the Tigers was a close one with 13 tie scores and four lead changes. Additionally, the largest lead for either team was only eight points.
 
The Wonder Boys would have four players score in double figures with Hall leading the way with 15 points. Next in scoring was Niko Gosnell with 11 points. Kevin Howard and Kimani Binder rounded out double-figure scoring with 10 points each. Cameron Kennedy was just shy of the double-figure mark with nine points, but he added a team-high eight rebounds, five assists and two steals.