RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – After a relatively tough first half offensively for the Arkansas Tech men's basketball team, the final 20 minutes saw the offense catch fire, which led to Tech coming from behind and beating Ouachita by a score of 64-58 on Saturday afternoon inside Tucker Coliseum.
The win keeps the Wonder Boys (10-6, 8-2 GAC) in at least a tie for second place in the Great American Conference standings. Tech can be alone in second pending the outcome of the Southern Arkansas and Harding game, which was at the half at the time of this writing. If SAU beats Harding, they, along with Tech will be tied for second at 8-2. If Harding wins, Tech will be alone in second place.
The Wonder Boys, who still have 12 games remaining on their regular season schedule, have also matched their overall win total from a year ago and have surpassed their conference win total. Their eight wins to this point in GAC action are the most since the 2019-20 season when that team win eight league games.
Against Ouachita on Saturday, the Wonder Boys sputtered offensively in the first half, shooting under 30% overall from the floor (8-of-27) and under 10% (1-of-11) from the three-point line. At the free throw line, however, Tech made 7-of-10 tries.
While their offense was slow out of the gate, the Wonder Boys were able to stay in the game with their perimeter defense as they allowed just one make from three-point range on eight first-half attempts by the Tigers (7-7, 5-5 GAC).
Aside from the struggles from long range, Ouachita ended up shooting 50% overall (14-of-28) from the floor in the first half, but attempted no free throws. That resulted in them holding just a five-point lead at the break, 29-24.
The second was a completely different story for the Wonder Boys on offense as they could hardly miss, shooting an eye-popping 75% (18-of-24) from the field. Only two of those rare misses came inside the arc as Tech was 3-of-7 from deep that half and 15-of-17 on two-point baskets.
By the 16:20 mark of the second half, Tech regained the lead on a
Taelon Peter three-pointer. By the 14:06 mark, their lead was a large as seven points, 41-34.
Ouachita had a run in them at that point and pulled off an 11-2 run over about a two-minute stretch to swing the lead in their favor, 45-43, with 11:43 to play in regulation. The two teams traded baskets the next three trips down the floor to knot the score at 47-all.
With just under eight minutes to play, the Tigers broke the tie with a three-pointer by Marvin Williams-Dunn. A personal 4-0 scoring burst by Tech's
Andre Leavell gave the Wonder Boys the lead back, 51-50, with just over five minutes to play.
The lead then changed hands four-straight possessions as they two teams traded blows.
With Tech leading by a point and 3:34 remaining, Ouachita split a trip to the free throw line to tie the score at 55-all. On the ensuing trip down the floor following the missed free throw, Leavell put the Wonder Boys up for good with a layup at the 3:14 mark.
Tech would push their lead out to six points within a minute of game time and eventually eased into a win by that margin. The single-digit margin of victory was the Wonder Boys' ninth such win of the year. In games decided by nine or fewer points, Tech is currently 9-5 overall and 8-2 in GAC games.
Three Wonder Boys ended the game in double figures. Leavell led the team with 18 points. He also added six assists, five rebounds and three steals. Peter was next in scoring with 15. He paced the team in three-point shots with three makes.
Niko Gosnell added 10 points off the bench as he was 5-of-6 shooting overall from the floor.
The Wonder Boys will now prepare for a quick turnaround once more as they play Harding at home this coming Monday night. Tip-off against the Bisons is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. inside Tucker Coliseum.
