SEARCY, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech men's basketball team attempted a season-high 34 free throws and made 28 of them (82.4%) to help lift them past Harding for a pivotal 85-73 road win on Monday night at the Rhodes-Reeves Fieldhouse.
 
The previous high of free throw attempts by the Wonder Boys (9-14, 6-11 GAC) was 25 on the road in an overtime game at Henderson State back on December 11.
 
Generally, getting to the free throw line is not something the Wonder Boys do on a regular basis. In fact, in 18 of their 23 games played thus far, the Wonder Boys have attempted 15 or fewer free throws, and in eight of those, the attempts have been 10 or less. The Wonder Boys have even had a game this season in which they did not attempt a single free throw, a January 29 game at Southeastern Oklahoma.
 
In Monday night's win over Harding, it did not appear as though free throws would play a prominent role in the outcome, but Tech was a perfect 6-of-6 from the charity stripe during the first half.
 
That first half was a closely-contested half of action that featured 10 tie scores and seven lead changes. Additionally, the largest lead for either team in the first half was four points. The final two lead changes of the half came in succession over the final 30 seconds of the game as the Wonder Boys and Bisons (5-19, 3-15 GAC) traded three-pointers. The last of them going in favor of Tech and knocked down by sharpshooter Cameron Kennedy.
 
Early action in the second half saw a little bit of separation as the Wonder Boys grew their lead out to eight points after three minutes of play. With just under 10 minutes to go, the Wonder Boys pushed the lead out to double-digits on a three-pointer by Taelon Peter.
 
The Bisons fought to cut into the deficit, but the Wonder Boys kept them at bay and maintained a comfortable lead as time ticked away.
 
With just over five and a half minutes, Harding had cut the Tech lead down to six points, but the Wonder Boys responded with a 6-0 run over the next minute to push their lead to its apex of 12 points, 72-60.
 
Harding made one final push and went on a 6-0 scoring spurt over the next minute of play themselves thanks to a pair of successful old-fashioned three-point plays.
 
With the lead suddenly in jeopardy and momentum beginning to build for Harding, the Wonder Boys stemmed that tide at the free throw line.
 
Over the final three and a half minutes of the game, the Wonder Boys went 13-of-16 from the charity stripe to salt the game away and secure the big road win.
 
Overall, Monday's night game was also one of the better all-around games for the Wonder Boys as they shot 48% from the floor and had five players score in double figures.
 
Tony Hall led the way with 21 points on 5-of-9 shooting. He was also 10-of-12 from the free throw line. Kennedy and Peter were next with 17 points each. Kennedy was nearly perfect shooting the ball going 7-of-8 overall and 3-of-3 from three-point range. Peter also made a trio of three-pointers and added 6-of-6 success from the free throw line.
 
Calvin Allen scored 13 points with seven coming from the free throw line. Niko Gosnell rounded out double-figure scoring with 10 points.
 
The Wonder Boys will now prepare to make their final Oklahoma road trip of the year as they will travel to Northwestern Oklahoma on Thursday and Southwestern Oklahoma on Saturday.