MONTICELLO, Ark. – It was not easy at all, but the Arkansas Tech men's basketball team, thanks to a pair of clutch free throws by
Andre Leavell in the waning seconds, was able to escape Steeleman Fieldhouse on Thursday night with a one-point win, 49-48, against Arkansas-Monticello.
The razor-thin victory was the Wonder Boys' (9-6, 7-2 GAC) fifth road win of the season and are the most since the 2017-18 season when Tech won seven road games. The Wonder Boys, who are not quite to the halfway point of the conference season, have also matched their conference win total from a year ago as their victory on Thursday was the team's seventh.
The difficulties of Thursday night's game for the Wonder Boys showed up early as UAM started off the game on fire from three-point range making five of their first six attempts. That sizzling start from beyond the arc helped UAM take a double-digit lead and command of the game as the Wonder Boys simultaneously struggled on the offensive end.
The fifth of those three-pointers came at the 4:50 mark of the first half and gave the Boll Weevils (5-10, 1-8 GAC) a 14-point lead, 25-11. That would be the largest lead of the game for UAM. They would ultimately carry a 12-point lead into the locker room, 27-15.
That 15-point first half came on 6-of-25 shooting overall (24%), which included no makes on six tries from long range. It was also the lowest scoring output of the year in an opening half for the Wonder Boys, but that proved to be an aberration as Tech came out swinging in the second half.
It did not occur at break-neck speed, but the Wonder Boys were able to engineer an 8-0 run over the first four and a half minutes of action to suddenly pull within four points of the lead, 27-23, with 15:27 to play. About a minute later, Tech extended the run out to a 13-3 surge and were within a bucket with just over 14 minutes on the clock.
UAM was able to gain some footing and stop the surge by the Wonder Boys at that point. The Boll Weevils would keep the Wonder Boys at bay for as long as they could, remaining in the lead, albeit by a small margin, until the final 5.4 seconds of regulation.
That's when Leavell toed the charity stripe and buried the aforementioned two free throw attempts.
The first make by Leavell knotted the game at 48-all and was the first tie score of the game since it was 6-all back at the 15:26 mark of the first half. Leavell's second free throw gave the Wonder Boys the lead, their first since the 15:48 mark of the first half when they lead by three points, 6-3.
Despite losing the lead in the moment, UAM still had a chance for a final shot at a game-winner. After successfully getting the ball into the front court, the Boll Weevils got a decent look from three-point range as time expired, but the ball was a bit too strong off the back iron and rattled out, giving the Wonder Boys the thrilling come-from-behind win.
Leavell's clutch free throws put the cap on a scoring night that saw him score a game-high 19 points. He was the only Wonder Boy to score in double figures against UAM.
BJ Johnson was the next leading scorer for Tech as he scored nine points on 3-of-5 shooting overall.
The Wonder Boys will now return home to take on Ouachita on Saturday afternoon. Tip-off against the Tigers is scheduled for 3 p.m. That game is also Hometown Heroes Day and all local first responders and military personnel (active or retired) will receive free admission to the game.
