RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Playing their third game in six days, the Arkansas Tech men's basketball team turned in one of their best all-around performances of the season as they snapped a four-game losing skid with an impressive 81-61 win over East Central on Monday night inside Tucker Coliseum.
 
Monday night's game saw the Wonder Boys (6-8, 3-5 GAC) register season-highs in fields goals made (34), field goal percentage (.607; 34-of-56) and three-point field goal percentage (.529; 9-of-17). They also had seven players score at least seven points with three going for double figures.
 
The ultra-efficient night for the Wonder Boys started inauspiciously as Tech missed their first three shots and did not score until a Niko Gosnell hook shot at the 17:54 mark of the first half. For the rest of the half, however, the Wonder Boys made 15-of-25 field goals and took firm control of the game.
 
The largest lead of the first half was 13 points on an ally-oop dunk by Gosnell from Cejay Mann at the 4:21 mark. The Wonder Boys would eventually carry a nine-point lead into the locker room.
 
The 15-minute break at halftime did little to slow down the Wonder Boys offensive attack as they made six of their first seven shots, growing their lead out to 16 points with 15:03 left to play. After missing their next three shots, a dunk by Gosnell at the 12:29 mark sparked a remarkable scoring run that essentially ended the game.
 
Starting with that Gosnell dunk, over the next 6:48 of action, the Wonder Boys made their next 10 shots from the field and were also 2-of-2 from the charity stripe. That stretch of unblemished shooting took a 16-point lead and nearly doubled it as the Wonder Boys reached the high watermark of a 31-point advantage with 5:41 to go.
 
During that run, the Wonder Boys made a trio of three-pointers and had seven baskets in the paint.
 
ECU somewhat crawled back in the game and cut their deficit down to 19 points with just over 1:15 left to play. The Wonder Boys quickly pushed the lead back over 20 points before ending with the 20-point margin of victory, which tied for the largest win for the team this season.
 
As mentioned previously, the Wonder Boys had seven players score seven points or more. The leading scorer on the night was Kevin Howard with 18 points. Howard was 8-of-10 overall from the floor and 2-of-3 from three-point range. Behind Howard in scoring was Isaac Ragland with a career-high 16 points off the bench. Ragland 5-of-7 overall and 4-of-5 from range. Rounding out double-figure scoring was Gosnell with 14 points on 7-of-10 shooting,
 
The Wonder Boys and Tigers will have a leg up on scouting their next opponent as the two will face each other this coming Thursday evening in Ada. Tip-off for the game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.