RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – A combination of stifling defense and efficient offense helped carry the Arkansas Tech men's basketball team to a 67-50 win at home against Arkansas-Monticello on Saturday afternoon.
Very early action in the first half was tight between Tech and UAM with four lead changes and two tie scores through the initial nine minutes or so of action, but after that, it was all Wonder Boys.
Trailing by a point with just under 12 minutes left in the first half, Tech's
Taelon Peter buried a three-pointer to put the Wonder Boys back in the lead. That would be the last lead change of the game as Peter's trifecta sparked the Wonder Boys to a 14-3 run over the next four minutes of play, which also pushed their lead out to double-digits, 20-10.
The Wonder Boys then went on take complete control of the game over the remainder of the half as they continued to increase their lead, pushing it out as high as 19 points before going into the locker room with that margin of an advantage.
In that opening half, the Wonder Boys shot 50% overall (11-of-22), 50% from three-point range (4-of-8) and 78% from the free throw line (7-of-9). Defensively, the Wonder Boys held the Boll Weevils just 15.4% shooting overall as they were 4-of-26 from the field. A baker's dozen of those misses came from long range as UAM went 0-for-13 from deep in the first half.
About five minutes into the second half, Tech had grown their lead out to 20 points and by the 6:57 mark the lead reached its apex of 27 points, 56-29. The Boll Weevils were able to cut the deficit down to 17 by the 5:06 mark, but the Wonder Boys weathered that push and quickly went back up by 20 on a three-pointer by
Tommy Kamarad on the ensuing possession.
UAM had one final push in them at the end as they closed out the final 1:45 on a 7-0 run to bring the game to its final margin of 17 points, 67-50.
Individually, the Wonder Boys had three players score in double figures and were led by Peter and his 21 points. It was the 10
th time this season that Peter has scored 20 or more points in a game. Behind Peter was Kamarad with 19.
Cassius Brooks rounded out double-figure scoring with 13 points.
The Wonder Boys will now prepare for a big road trip next week as they will play at Southeastern Oklahoma on Thursday night and then at East Central on Saturday afternoon. Tip-off for the game at Southeastern is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
