ALVA, Okla. – The Arkansas Tech men's basketball team got off to a slow start offensively on the road at Northwestern Oklahoma on Saturday afternoon, and despite a strong comeback effort in the second half, Tech would fall by a score of 85-70.
With slow start offensively, the Wonder Boys (11-8, 9-4 GAC) found themselves trailing by double digits with just under 14 and a half minutes left in the first half. That deficit would grow as large as 15 points at the 8:49 mark as the Rangers (9-8, 5-8 GAC) led 25-10 after converting an old-fashioned three-point play.
The Wonder Boys stopped the swell there and used a 7-0 scoring spurt over the next minute to pull within single digits. NWOSU answered right back with a three-pointer to put their lead back into double-digits. That would more or less be the margin of separation that the Rangers would have the remainder of the first half, but a three-pointer by Tech's
Taelon Peter in the waning seconds of the half sent the Wonder Boys into the locker room trailing by eight points, 41-33.
Early action in the second half was back-and-forth with Tech battling hard to make more headway against their deficit, but NWOSU seemed to have enough of an answer to keep the Wonder Boys at bay.
Trailing by their halftime deficit with 9:30 left in the second half, the Wonder Boys began to have success in chipping away at the Rangers' lead and went on a 5-0 burst to pull within a single possession, down by three, 62-59, with 8:18 on the clock. Unfortunately, the Rangers had another quick answer on their ensuing possession.
Tech would get within three points of the lead twice more over the next four minutes or so of action, but NWOSU scored shortly after to stave off the Wonder Boys.
With just under three minutes left, Tech pulled within a bucket on a layup by
Andre Leavell. It was the closest the Wonder Boys had been since the 18:56 mark of the first half. As had been the case throughout, NWOSU had the answer and buried a three-pointer a half minute later to go back up two possessions.
From there, the Rangers were able to run away from the Wonder Boys as that trifecta sparked a 16-3 run over the final 2:23 of the game.
The Wonder Boys would have three players score in double figures with
Tommy Kamarad leading the way with 18 points. Over his last three games, Kamarad has averaged 19.0 ppg and has raised his season scoring average from 6.3 ppg to 8.3 ppg. Behing Kamarad in scoring against NWOSU was Peter with 15 points.
Niko Gosnell provided 12 points off the bench to round out double-figure scoring.
The Wonder Boys will now return home for a pair of games starting first with a Thursday night matchup with East Central. That game is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off on February 2.
