BETHANY, Okla. – Arkansas Tech, the only team to beat No. 17-ranked Southern Nazarene in Great American Conference play this year, nearly completed the season sweep on Saturday, but fell short in the latter part of the second half as SNU held on for a 57-43 win.
The early part of the game was closely-contested with neither team leading by more than five points, and a back-and-forth tussle with six lead changes and five tie scores throughout the first half.
At the close of the first half, the Wonder Boys (12-11, 10-7 GAC) were the team out in front as they took the final lead change of the half on jumper by D'Rell Roberts at the 2:33 mark. Tech then took a four-point lead into the break as they out-scored the Crimson Storm (20-3, 16-1 GAC) 5-2.
Out of the break, the Wonder Boys quickly took their largest lead of the game, six points, on a layup by
Niko Gosnell on their initial possession. Tech would maintain the modest lead until the 13:09 mark when SNU made a pair of free throws to break a 35-all tie.
Trailing by four with 11:20 left, the Wonder Boys went on a 4-0 scoring burst to tie the score at 39-all with a painted jumper by
Tommy Kamarad and a transition dunk by
Taelon Peter following his steal seconds earlier.
SNU answered right back on the other end with a three-pointer to not relinquish the lead.
Leading by that margin with right at six minutes left on the clock, the Crimson Storm started to pull away as they went on a 7-0 scoring run to over the next minute of action to swell their lead out to double digits.
The run would then extend out to an 11-0 run that ate up the remainder of the game as SNU held the Wonder Boys scoreless over the final 6:48 of the game.
Statistically, the Wonder Boys would have eight of the nine players who saw action score, but only Gosnell reached double figures. He would score 14 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the floor. The 14 points were a season-high for Gosnell.
The Wonder Boys will now have another quick turnaround before their next game as they are set to take on Harding on the road on Monday night as part of Rivalry Night in the GAC. The game is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off from the Rhodes-Reeves Fieldhouse in Searcy.
