RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Playing the fifth of five makeup games to their 2021-22 regular season schedule, the Arkansas Tech men's basketball team took Southeastern Oklahoma to the limit on Tuesday night and nearly pulled off an upset victory but fell just short by a score of 75-68.
 
Statistically, the Wonder Boys (9-17, 6-14 GAC) had one of their most efficient games on offense this season against the Savage Storm (21-5, 16-4 GAC) as they shot 52% overall from the floor (28-of-54) and 61% from three-point range (11-of-18).
 
Tech's field goal percentages on Tuesday saw them out-shoot the top shooting team in the Great American Conference in terms of overall field goal percentage and three-point field goal percentage Prior to Tuesday's game, Southeastern was shooting at 48% clip overall as a team and 38% from three-point range. The Savage Storm were also the league's top-scoring offense at an average of 86.1 points per game.
 
The solid night of shooting started early for the Wonder Boys as they shot nearly lights out in the first half, knocking down 16-of-24 shots overall (66.7%) and 7-of-9 from three-point range (77.8%). The success in the first half allowed the Wonder Boys to match the high-powered Savage Storm nearly blow-for-blow.
 
In the first half alone, there were six tied scores and six lead changes. The Savage Storm were able to grow a lead out as large as nine points on a pair of occasions in the first half, but only carried a two-point advantage into the locker room.
 
The Savage Storm continued to hold a lead throughout the entirety of the second half and swelled their lead out as high as 14 points with 6:26 to play, but an 8-0 spurt over the next 2:09 of action pulled Tech within six points.
 
Southeastern broke that run with a three-pointer to push the lead back out to nine, but the Wonder Boys would not give in, trimming the lead down to five with just over two minutes left to play. Unfortunately, the Wonder Boys would be unable to score the rest of the way and Southeastern iced the game with a pair of free throws under 30 seconds left to play.
 
Individually, the Wonder Boys had three players in double figures with Cameron Kennedy leading the way with 21 points. He was 8-of-11 shooting overall and 5-of-6 from three-point range. Tony Hall and Niko Gosnell were next with 15 points each. Hall also had a double-double with 10 rebounds.