RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Tucker Coliseum was rocking on Thursday night as the Arkansas Tech men's basketball team took on Southern Nazarene, who entered the night as the Great American Conference's lone unbeaten team in league play. By the end of the night, that was no longer the case as Tech came from behind to hand SNU their first conference loss, 53-48.
The win extends the Wonder Boys' (8-5, 6-1 GAC) winning streak to three games and improves their GAC record to 6-1, placing them in a three-way tie for first place with SNU and Southern Arkansas, who won at home on Thursday night as well.
The 6-1 start to GAC play extends their best-ever mark as a member of the GAC and is the best seven-game conference start since 2010-11.
As the defensive scoring averages for both the Wonder Boys and the Crimson Storm (10-3, 6-1 GAC) might have foreshadowed, scoring was going to be at a premium. Coming into Thursday night's game, the Crimson Storm led the GAC in scoring defense at 59.8 ppg, while Tech was second with an average of 64.4 ppg allowed.
In the first half, the game as back and forth with not a whole lot of scoring occurring. Right at halfway through the opening half, the score was tied at 10-all. SNU broke that tie on an old-fashioned three-point play at the 10:07 mark. The Crimson Storm then went on to knock down a pair of long-range three-points to jump out to a nine-point lead, 19-10, with 8:24 to go.
Both teams were scoreless over the next two minutes of game action before
Tommy Kamarad broke Tech's scoring drought with a painted jumper at the 6:27 mark. A quick 5-0 scoring burst by SNU gave them a 12-point lead with just over five minutes left on the first half clock.
Tech would battle back and ended up closing the deficit down to three points, 28-25, heading into the locker room.
As defense continued to reign supreme in the second half, the Wonder Boys kept themselves within reach of Southern Nazarene but were finding it difficult to put together a significant run to help them overtake the lead.
That all changed with about three and a half minutes remaining in regulation and Tech trailing by eight points, 45-37.
At that point,
Taelon Peter made good on a hoop-and-harm three-point play to pull within five. Following a missed SNU jumper, Tech drew a couple of points closer on a pair of made
BJ Johnson free throws and trailed by three with 2:17 to play.
The Wonder Boys' defense forced another miss by SNU on their next trip down the court, which led to an easy layup for Johnson on the other end.
With under 45 seconds to play, Tech forced the Crimson Storm into their 20
th turnover of the game, giving the Wonder Boys the ball back with a chance to take the lead. On the ensuing possession, Peter was fouled driving to the basket and went to the line for two with under 30 seconds to play.
Unfazed by the moment, Peter buried both free throws to give Tech a one-point lead, 49-48.
Southern Nazarene then got the ball back with a chance at a game-winner at the buzzer. Without the shot clock on, the Crimson Storm elected to take the shot with about five seconds left. They were able to get a good look on a runner in the paint, but it rimmed out and Peter secured the rebound and was subsequently fouled.
With a chance to make it a three-point game with just under five seconds left, Peter calmly swished both tries home. Tech would add two more free throws by Kamarad before the final horn to give them the five-point victory.
Statistically, Peter was the only Wonder Boy to reach double figures as he scored a team-high 17 points. Six of those came at the free throw line as he was 6-of-7. Collectively, the Wonder Boys shot 71% from the charity stripe (15-of-21) and were an important 13-of-15 (87%) in the second half. Peter also added a team-high six rebounds.
The Wonder Boys will look to carry the momentum from Thursday night's home win over to Saturday afternoon as they are set to take on Oklahoma Baptist. The Bison won on the road at Harding on Thursday and enter play with an 8-5 overall record and a 5-2 mark in GAC play.
Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. inside Tucker Coliseum.
