RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Playing in front of their home fans for the first time this season, the Arkansas Tech men's basketball team came up just short in a defensive battle on Thursday night inside Tucker Coliseum against UT Tyler as Tech lost by a score of 56-49.
Both teams limited one another to shooting percentages under 40% with each making 20 shots from the field. Both teams also made 6-of-7 free throws on the night in what was a relatively foul-free game with just 24 combined fouls called.
The difference statistically, however, came from beyond the arc as UT Tyler made seven more trifectas than Tech did as the Patriots (2-0) knocked down an even 10. Unfortunately for the Wonder Boys (0-3), six of those makes from long range came in the second half and helped the Patriots start to gain some separation.
Trailing at the half, the Wonder Boys pulled within a point, 33-32, at the 14:38 mark on a layup by freshman Jonathon Mercera. The Patriots were able to weather that push by the Wonder Boys and remained in the lead while building up an eight-point lead with just under 12 minutes to play.
Tech was able to slice that deficit in half with just under seven minutes of game time remaining, but the aforementioned second-half trifectas began to do damage as UT Tyler went on a 12-0 scoring run over the next five minutes of game action thanks to four makes from beyond the arc. That outburst suddenly gave the Patriots their largest lead of the game, 16 points, 56-40, with 1:56 to play.
The Wonder Boys were resilient and continued to play hard down the stretch and ripped off a 9-0 scoring run in just over a minute to pull the game within single digits and bring the score to its final of 56-49.
A pair of Wonder Boys scored in double figures in the game with
Taelon Peter leading the way with 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting overall.
Wes Harris also scored in double figures with 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting.
The Wonder Boys will now prepare to hit the road for a Thanksgiving break classic hosted by Drury University in Springfield. At the classic, the Wonder Boys will take on William Jewell at 3:15 p.m. on Tuesday and then play Drury at 7:45 p.m. on Wednesday.
