SHAWNEE, Okla. – The No. 2-seeded Arkansas Tech men's basketball team engineered a second half comeback against No. 7-seed Harding on Thursday afternoon to survive and advance to the semifinals of the 2024 Great American Conference Men's Basketball Tournament, beating the Bisons, 67-65.
With the win, the Wonder Boys now have a hard-earned day off before resuming their tournament run on Saturday afternoon. Their opponent is still yet to be determined and will be the winner of the No. 3 vs. No. 6 game that is scheduled to be played at 2:15 p.m. on Friday, March 9. That game will be between No. 3-seed Northwestern Oklahoma and No. 6-seed Southwestern Oklahoma.
In the game against Harding, the Wonder Boys got out to an early lead, but a 13-0 run by the Bisons followed to give Harding a nine-point lead with 14:20 to go in the first half. By the 11:37 mark, Harding had pushed their lead out to double digits, 21-11.
The Wonder Boys, despite not shooting at their usually high efficiency, hung tough and by the 4:38 mark of the first half had tied the game at 30-all. The Bisons would not relinquish the lead, however, and knocked down a three-pointer to stay in front. They would double that to a six-point advantage on their ensuing trip down the court, but the Wonder Boys were able to make it a three-point game, 36-33, at the break.
In that first half, both teams shot under 40% from the floor, but made five threes and missed just one free throw apiece.
Early action in the second half saw the Wonder Boys grab their first lead since the 17:22 mark of the first half as recently-named GAC Defensive Player of the Year,
Josh Mitchell, converted an old-fashioned three-point play, putting Tech up 38-37. Unfortunately, that lead was short-lived as Harding hit a three on the ensuing possession to reclaim the lead.
From there, the Bisons managed to keep the Wonder Boys at arm's length and pushed their lead out as much as seven points, 53-46, with 10:09 remaining. Once more, the Wonder Boys were resilient on both ends of the floor and fought their way back into the game, knotting things up at 61-all at the 5:23 mark on a pair of made free throws by recently-named GAC Player of the Year,
Taelon Peter.
After those makes, the Wonder Boys got two of the biggest stops of the game on the defensive end as Mitchell, the conference's leading shot-blocker, swatted consecutive Harding driving layups.
On the ensuing offensive possession, the Wonder Boys took the lead, 63-61, on a layup by All-GAC Honorable Mention selection,
Cassius Brooks. After another defensive stop, the Wonder Boys doubled their lead to four thanks to a pair of clutch free throw makes by Mitchell.
Harding and Tech then traded baskets on consecutive possessions to keep it a four-point lead for the Wonder Boys with under three minutes to play. The Bisons were able to get back within two points with two free throw makes at the 2:38 mark, but would not score again the rest of the game.
The Bisons did have a chance to take the game's final shot, but solid and tough defense denied the Bisons a quality look as they had to settle for a deep three-point attempt that fortunately drew iron with 0.6 seconds left in the game.
Statisictally, the Wonder Boys were led in scoring by Brooks as he scored 17.
Tommy Kamarad was next with 12 points while
Kade Shaffer had 11. Shaffer also notched his first career double-double as he had a team-high 10 rebounds, all defensive. Additionally, Shaffer dished out six assists to have a well-balanced stat sheet.
Just off double-figure scoring was Mitchell as he had eight, but he did register three blocks and hauled in five rebounds.
