WEATHERFORD, Okla. – The Arkansas Tech men's basketball team opened their 2022-23 season on Friday night in Weatherford, Okla. against Emporia State of the MIAA as part of the GAC/MIAA Crossover Challenge. Tech would drop the game against Emporia by a score of 67-57.
Early on, the game was closely-contested with each team's defense playing well and forcing tough shots. Through the first 14 minutes of the game, the score was tied three times and the lead changed hands on two occasions. All the while, no lead was larger than six points.
The real turning point of the game, however, came in the final six minutes of the first half when the Wonder Boys' (0-1) offense went cold while the Hornets' (1-0) started to heat up.
Having their lead cut from six down to two points with just under four minutes remaining in the half thanks to a mini 4-0 scoring burst by Tech's
Andre Leavell about a minute and a half of game time earlier, Emporia State finally broke the lid off the basket from long range at the 3:54 mark to extend their lead out to five points, 25-20.
Prior to that, both teams had combined to go 0-for-13 from beyond the arch.
That make sparked an 11-0 run by Emporia State to close out the first half, giving them a 33-20 advantage at the break.
In the second half, both teams would get more in rhythm offensively as they each shot 50% overall from the field. Tech would make three more shots overall from the field, but Emporia had one more three-pointer and held a slight edge in made free throws as well.
As the second half played out, the Wonder Boys were able to pull within single digits within the first four minutes of play thanks to their first three-point make of the game, delivered by
Taelon Peter. The Hornets answered right back on the other end and pushed their lead back into double digits.
Just about a minute and a half later in the game, Emporia had grown their lead as high as 18 points. The Wonder Boys would begin to chip away at that deficit and pulled as close as 11 points with 8:09 to play.
Another big surge by Emporia over the next four minutes or so of the game pushed their lead to its apex of 19 points, 65-46, with 4:17 remaining on the clock.
The Wonder Boys showed no quit in themselves and would out-score Emporia State 11-2 the rest of the game to bring the final margin to 10 points, 67-57.
Statistically, the Wonder Boys had eight players score in the game with two going for double figures. Newcomer
Wes Harris led the team in scoring with 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting. He also had a game-high 11 rebounds to notch his first double-double as a Wonder Boy. Fellow newcomer
Andre Leavell was the other double-digit scorer with 11 points off the bench. Leavell also added seven rebounds and three assists.
The Wonder Boys will now have a quick turnaround as they will play Fort Hays State on Saturday afternoon starting at 5:30 p.m. from the Pioneer Cellular Event Center in Weatherford.
