TYLER, Texas – The Arkansas Tech men's basketball team picked up its second-straight win overall and first on the road on Wednesday night as they beat UT Tyler 88-81 in overtime.
The win improves the Wonder Boys to 2-2 overall on the season and gives them their first overtime victory since December 3, 2022 when Tech upended Ouachita Baptist on the road, 74-65.
An overtime game was not exactly in the plans for the Wonder Boys through the first half of action as they opened the game on a 12-0 run and built up a lead as large as 23 points by the 6:56 mark. The early start and subsequent sizable lead was thanks, in part, to sensational shooing from the outside to the tune of 7-of-12 (58%).
UT Tyler would mount a bit of a comeback at the end of the first half and pulled within nine points of the lead thanks to a 9-0 run over the final 2:41.
The Patriots would continue to work towards cutting the deficit and by the 12:08 mark of the second half, they had pulled even at 53-all. That tying bucket also led to the Patriots taking their first lead of the game as they completed the old fashioned three-point play at the charity stripe.
UT Tyler was able to get their lead out to four points before the Wonder Boys used an 8-0 scoring burst to flip the gap in their favor. During that spurt, the Wonder Boys got a pair of free throws from
BJ Johnson and consecutive three-point buckets from
Tommy Kamarad and
Kade Shaffer.
The Wonder Boys would remain in the lead until the 5:27 mark when the Patriots broke a 64-all tie. About a minute later, the Patriots were up by four, but a mini 5-0 run by Tech with a three-pointer by
BJ Johnson and a layup by
Taelon Peter put the Wonder Boys back in the lead with 3:26 to play in regulation.
With just over a minute left, UT Tyler tied the game at 72-all, but a clutch offensive rebound and put-back by Kamarad following a blocked shot gave Tech the lead with just 19 seconds left. The Patriots would come back down the court and got the tying bucket and then had a desperation heave at a three-pointer at the horn that did not go, sending the game to overtime.
The Patriots would open the extra period in front with a three-pointer off a steal on the initial possession in overtime. The Wonder Boys overcame that early hole and scored five-unanswered points on layups by
Josh Mitchell and Kamarad and a split trip to the free throw line by Johnson to take a two-point lead, 79-77, with 3:32 to play in overtime.
On their next trip down the court, the Patriots would tie the game at 79-all on a pair of made free throws. Immediately following that, however, Johnson hit a mid-range jumper to give Tech another two-point lead with 2:43 to go.
This time, the Wonder Boys were able to keep their lead safe thanks to lockdown defense and clutch free throw shooting.
The lockdown defense came in three forced turnovers and making UT Tyler miss four of their last four shots from the field. The clutch free throw shooting saw Tech make seven of eight over the final 2:07 of overtime with Peter making all six of Tech's final attempts.
Individually, the Wonder Boys had all five starters reach double figures in scoring with Johnson leading the way with 18 points. He was 4-of-6 overall from the field, which included 2-of-3 from three-point range, and was 8-of-10 from the free throw line. Peter and Kamarad were next with 16 points each while Mitchell and
Cassius Brooks followed with 11 points each.
Brooks also tied for the team-lead in rebounds with Mitchell with seven while also leading the team in assists with seven. Defensively, Kamarad had three blocks to lead the team while Peter had three steals to lead.
The Wonder Boys will be back in action in a little over a week as they open up Great American Conference play on the road at Arkansas-Monticello. That game is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off from inside Steelman Fieldhouse on Thursday, November 30.
