DURANT, Okla. – The Arkansas Tech men's basketball team returned to the hardwood for the first time in 19 days on Thursday night and showed little-to-no rust in their 86-77 road win against Southeastern Oklahoma.
The road win is Tech's third of the season. That mark surpasses last year's total and is the most since the 2018-19 season. The win was also a milestone for seventh-year head coach
Mark Downey as it was his 100
th win at the helm at Tech.
Keying the victory for the Wonder Boys (6-5, 4-1 GAC) was a stifling defensive effort that limited the top scoring offense in the GAC at 89.0 ppg entering the game to one of their lowest scoring outputs of the season as the Savage Storm (6-4, 3-2 GAC) mustered 77 points on 39% shooting.
Additionally, the Wonder Boys were aided in the win by their offense as it absolutely caught fire in the second half to the tune of 51 points on an eye-popping 75% success rate overall from the floor (21-of-28).
Another key factor for Tech on Thursday night was the emergence of
Kade Shaffer. With depth at the point guard position hampered with an injury coming into the game and early foul trouble for starter
DeShawn Davidson on Thursday night, Shaffer was thrust into having to play significant minutes against the Savage Storm.
To say that the Russellville native was up to the task was an understatement as Shaffer set season-highs in just about every category and exploded for a team-high 17 points. The 17 points for Shaffer came in a near perfect shooting night as he was 6-of-7 overall from the floor and 1-of-2 from the charity stripe. Shaffer was, however, perfect from beyond the arc as he knocked down four trifectas and accounted for all of Tech makes from distance.
One of his more significant three-point makes was his second of the game and came in the final seconds of the first half as he buried a step-back three at the horn to cut the Wonder Boys' deficit down to just one heading into the locker room.
His other two trifectas were also pivotal as his third make of the game broke a 54-all tie at the 12-minute mark and gave the Wonder Boys a lead they would not relinquish. The fourth make came under the eight-minute mark and gave the Wonder Boys their first double-digit lead of the game.
In between those threes by Shaffer was the ultimate turning point in the game for the Wonder Boys. Leading by three points with just under 10 minutes left to play, the Wonder Boys ripped off a neck-breaking 6-0 run in less than a minute. Spearheading that run were
Taelon Peter and
Andre Leavell as the two either scored or assisted the other as Tech racked up six quick fast break points.
The Savage Storm did make a late push and got as close as five points of Tech's lead with 37 seconds left, but the game was iced away by
Tommy Kamarad as he made all four of his free throw attempts down the stretch to give the Wonder Boys a nine-point victory.
As previously mentioned, Shaffer led the team in scoring with 17 points, but four other Wonder Boys joined him in double figures. Leavell was second with 16 points. Peter and
Niko Gosnell followed with 11 points each, while
Wes Harris added an even 10.
The Wonder Boys will now prepare for another road game in the Sooner State as they will play at East Central on Saturday afternoon. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m.
