WEATHERFORD, Okla. – The Arkansas Tech men's basketball team kept pace atop the Great American Conference standings on Thursday night with a gritty 59-44 road win at Southwestern Oklahoma.
The win keeps the Wonder Boys one game back of league-leading Southeastern Oklahoma, who won big at home against Ouachita Baptist on Thursday, and two up on third-place Northwestern Oklahoma. It was also the 19
th win of the season overall for the team, giving the program its most wins since the 2016-17 campaign.
Against SWOSU on Thursday, the Wonder Boys had to play from behind for a portion of the first half as they started off rather cold offensively, missing their first four shots of the game before a
Cassius Brooks three-pointer fell at the 17:24 mark.
Despite the relatively slow start offensively, the Wonder Boys' largest deficit early on was just six points, and by the 14-minute mark, had claimed their first lead of the game. Over the next four or so minutes of action, the lead would change hands six times with the last of those going in favor of Tech at the 9:52 mark on a three-pointer by
Braden Tanner.
The Wonder Boys would go on to out-score the Bulldogs 17-8 the rest of the half to go into the locker room with a nine-point lead, 37-28.
In the second half, the Wonder Boys wasted no time in building their lead out to double digits doing so with a painted jumper by Brooks on their initial possession. Only briefly would the Wonder Boys not lead by double digits the rest of the way as they grew their lead out as large as 17 points by the 3:33 mark before ending with the 15-point margin of victory.
Statistically, the Wonder Boys had three players score in double figures and were led by
Kade Shaffer and his 15 points.
Taelon Peter was next with 13 followed by Brooks and his 10.
Sean Cobb was a bucket shy of double digits as he had eight.
Cobb also was one of three Wonder Boys with eight rebounds in the game. Joining Cobb with the eight boards were Peter and
Tommy Kamarad.
The Wonder Boys will now prepare for another big road game this coming Saturday as they are at Northwestern Oklahoma. Tip-off against the Rangers is scheduled for 3 p.m. from the Percefull Fieldhouse in Alva.
