SHAWNEE, Okla. – For the first time since 2015, the Arkansas Tech men's basketball team will play in the championship game of the Great American Conference Tournament as they defeated No. 8-seed Ouachita by a score of 73-66 in the semifinal round of the 2023 GAC Tournament on Saturday afternoon.
The Wonder Boys' opponent in the title game will be No. 2-seed Southern Arkansas as the Muleriders edged out No. 6-seed Henderson State in their semifinal matchup, 84-81. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. from FireLake Arena in Shawnee, Okla.
It will be the third meeting of the year between Tech and SAU with the Muleriders having won the prior two. The most-recent game came right at a week ago in Russellville and was an instant classic to close out the regular season as it took double overtime for SAU to escape with a win, 85-83.
For the Wonder Boys, this will be their fourth appearance in the GAC Tournament Championship game. They are 2-1 in their previous games, last winning in 2015. For SAU, this will be their second time appearing in a GAC Tournament Championship game. They lost that lone prior appearance by a point back in 2021.
As far as their semifinal game against Ouachita, the Wonder Boys (16-14) started off slowly and trailed the Tigers (12-16) for about three quarters of the first half until D'Rell Roberts' layup at the 5:21 mark put Tech up 24-23.
Over the next two minutes or so of action, the Wonder Boys rattled off six unanswered points to take their largest lead of the first half, seven points, 30-23, with 3:28 to go before halftime. Ouachita was able to pull as close as three points in the final moments of the half, but Tech ultimately went up by five at the break thanks to a painted jumper by
Andre Leavell.
Out of the break, the Wonder Boys remained in control and by the 16:44 mark, took a double-digit lead, 42-32. By the 12:35 mark, the Tigers were able to chip away at the deficit and tie the game at 45-all. Less than a minute later, they took their first lead since back in the first half on a pair of made free throws.
The score would then be tied twice, and the lead change hands on three straight possessions. The last of those lead changes during that exchange came at the 9:03 mark and was in favor of the Tigers.
By the 7:02 mark, the Tigers had taken a seven-point lead, 59-52.
The Wonder Boys responded with an 8-0 run over the next 1:23 of game time to swing back in front. During that run, the Wonder Boys got a layup by
BJ Johnson, a three by
Taelon Peter and a conventional three-point play from
Niko Gosnell.
A quick 4-0 burst by Ouachita gave them a three-point lead, 63-60, with 4:40 to play. Less than a minute later, the Wonder Boys had the game tied at 63-all.
With 2:35 left on the clock, the Tigers split a trip to the free throw line, putting them up by a point, 64-63. On the other end, the Wonder Boys had two consecutive successful trips to the free throw line as Roberts made all four of his attempts to five Tech a three-point lead, 67-64, with 1:46 to go.
A clutch layup by Johnson at the 1:04 mark pushed the lead out to five and allowed enough separation for Tech to eventually put the game away at the free throw line. The final run on free throws wasn't pretty, but it was enough as Tech made 4-of-10 over the final minute.
Peter led the team in scoring with 21 points. Behind him was Roberts with 15. Johnson added 12 and Leavell rounded out double-figure scoring with 10 points.
