RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Making their 2023-24 home debut, the Arkansas Tech men's basketball team also picked up its first win of the season and did so in dramatic fashion on Thursday night, holding off Drury for a 75-72 win.
The game was the quintessential tale of two halves as the Wonder Boys were dialed in on both ends of the court through the first 20 minutes, but had to find a way to stop a furious surge by Drury in the second half.
In the first half, the Wonder Boys imposed their will against the Panthers and midway through the half had grabbed a double-digit lead. Thanks to 53% shooting overall from the floor (18-of-34) and 50% success from long range (7-of-14), the Wonder Boys were able to swell their lead out as large as 20 points before heading into the locker room up by 19, 45-26.
While the offense was clicking in the first half, the defense was solid and effective as well as the Wonder Boys held Drury to just 33% shooting overall from the floor (8-of-24) and 22% from three-point range (2-of-9).
Coming out of the locker room, however, the script seemed to flip some and suddenly Drury was on the move and cut their deficit to single digits, 48-40, by the 15:22 mark. A three-point answer by the Wonder Boys and
Taelon Peter pushed the lead back to double-digits.
The Panthers continued to push, but the Wonder Boys were able to keep a relatively comfortable distance between them.
That, however, started to change at the midway point of the second half. Trailing by 12 points, 61-49, with 10:08 to play, the Panthers would go on a 9-0 run over the next two minutes or so of action to suddenly pull within three points, 61-58.
Cassius Brooks finally broke the run by Drury with a three-pointer to double the Tech lead back out to six points, 64-58, with 7:27 to play.
By the 4:29 mark, the Panthers had got as close as two points, 68-66, thanks to a three-pointer by Adam Moore. The Wonder Boys would remain in front and
Josh Mitchell had a clutch layup on the other end of the court to make it a four-point game. A jumper by
BJ Johnson and a split trip to the free throw line by
Kade Shaffer gave Tech as seven-point lead, 73-66, with just under three minutes to play.
Absolutely not going away, the Panthers would get three points on each of their next two trips down the floor, with one coming from beyond the arc and the other the conventional way with a hoop and a harm. That mini surge got the Panthers within a point of the lead, 73-72, with just under two minutes left in regulation.
With that score still intact, the Panthers had a chance to score the go-ahead bucket on potentially the final shot of the game as they got the ball back with 14 seconds left on a miss on the front end of a 1-and-1 opportunity for the Wonder Boys.
Once across the timeline, Drury called a timeout to draw up their final play. Fortunately for the Wonder Boys, whatever play was drawn up never came to fruition as Drury threw the ball out of bounds with just five seconds to go.
On the ensuing in-bounds, Peter was fouled immediately and went to the line for a significant 1-and-1 chance. The Russellville product would knock down the front end to earn the bonus, and he was also successful on that one as well, pushing the lead out to three points.
With just over five seconds left, the Panthers had a chance at the potential game-tying three-pointer, but the shot was off the iron as time expired, giving Tech the thrilling win, 75-72.
Offensively, the Wonder Boys were led by Peter and his 18 points. He was 6-of-13 overall from the floor, 3-of-6 from three-point range and 3-of-3 from the free throw line. Peter also added eight rebounds. Brooks was the next leading scorer and rounded out double-figure scoring with 16 points on 6-of-15 shooting. He also was 3-of-6 from three-point range and added five rebounds, three assists and three steals.
The Wonder Boys will now prepare to hit the road next week for a non-conference game at UT Tyler. That game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. tip-off on Wednesday, November 22 from the Patriot Center.
