RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The game of the day within the Great American Conference on Saturday occurred inside Tucker Coliseum as the top-two teams in the early league standings, Arkansas Tech and Southeastern Oklahoma, squared off. The game more than lived up to the billing and it was ultimately Arkansas Tech who came away with the win, 73-69.
The win extends the Wonder Boys' winning streak to 10 games and improves their overall record to 10-2 on the season. It also keeps them unblemished at home (7-0) and in GAC play (6-0) where they now have a two-game lead in the standings.
The heavyweight battle between the Wonder Boys and the Savage Storm was a closely-contested affair throughout with nine different tie scores and a remarkable 22 lead changes. Additionally, the largest lead for either team at any point in the game was just eight points.
A lot of the back-and-forth nature of the game played out in the first half as they were six tie scores and 12 lead changes in the first half alone. The final lead change that occurred in the first half went in favor of Tech and came at the 4:21 mark of the period as a layup by
Cassius Brooks broke a 27-all tie.
The Wonder Boys would stay in the lead the remainder of the first half and went into the locker room with a three-point lead, 34-31.
Early in the second half, Southeastern hit a three-pointer to tie the score at 34-all and not too long after they were in the lead by a point on a layup by their point guard Brennen Burns. A mid-range jumper by Brooks followed on Tech's next trip down the floor to swing the lead back in their favor, 37-36.
The Wonder Boys then began to play with the lead and held a small advantage until the 12:08 mark when the Savage Storm grabbed another one-point lead, this time at 50-49. Over the next minute or so of action, the lead changed hands three times with the final of those during that stretch going in favor of Tech on a runout transition dunk by
Tommy Kamarad.
That was the spark of what ended up being a 9-0 run that gave Tech the largest lead of the game by either team, eight points, 60-52, with just over seven minutes left to play. The run was capped by a put-back layup by Kamarad and then promptly snapped on a corner three-pointer by Southeastern. Kamarad had the answer for the Wonder Boys moments later with a three-ball of his own to put Tech back up by eight, 63-55, with 6:20 to play in regulation.
With just under five minutes left, Southeastern got a burst of momentum that slingshot them into the lead. At that point, the Savage Storm trailed by six points, 65-59, but on the front end of a 1-and-1 free throw attempt by Southeastern, there was a foul called on Tech, to set up another 1-and-1 following the initial trip. The Savage Storm were able to convert the front end of both 1-and-1 trips and then made good on the second shot as well, giving them four points without the clock running and cutting the Tech lead down to two points.
After a missed layup on Tech's next possession, Southeastern got the ball up the floor quickly and buried a three-pointer from the wing to take a one-point lead, 66-65, with 4:14 left.
The Wonder Boys were able to settle things back down after that surge and regained the lead, 68-66, at the 3:01 mark on a three-pointer by
BJ Johnson. As they did earlier to take the lead, Southeastern pushed the ball up the court quickly and hit another three-pointer to go up 69-68 with 2:51 to go on the clock.
That would turn out to be the final basket made and points scored by Southeastern as the Tech defense put the clamps down, forcing four turnovers and three missed shots over the remainder of the game.
While the Tech defense was doing its part in holding the top-scoring team in the GAC to 20 points below their season average, the offense was looking to regain the lead and lift the team to a win.
Trailing by a point with 1:22 to play, Brooks went the free throw line for two shots. After missing the first, Brooks was able to drain his second shot and tie the game at 69-all. Moments later, the Wonder Boys had forced a turnover and then had an out of bounds scenario under their own basket with under 45 seconds left.
What emerged from the inbounds was a sensational ally-oop dunk thrown down by
Taelon Peter to give Tech a two-point lead, 71-69. Peter then sealed the game at the free throw line not long after with a pair of makes with just six seconds left to play, giving Tech the thrilling win, 73-69.
In terms of stats, Kamarad led the Wonder Boys in scoring with 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting overall which included 2-of-3 from three-point range. Peter was next with 15 points and Brooks rounded out double-figure scoring with 12 points.
The Wonder Boys will now prepare for their first Oklahoma road swing of the season next week as they will travel to Shawnee to take on Oklahoma Baptist on Thursday, January 11 and then Bethany to take on Southern Nazarene on the following Saturday.
