RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech men's basketball team was able to come back from a double-digit first half deficit, but ultimately was overtaken late in the second half as Southern Nazarene came away with a 60-55 win on Saturday afternoon.
The high watermark lead for SNU in the first half, who led the entirety of the opening 20 minutes, was 11 points and occurred twice. The last of those came at the 8:24 mark. By the 3:51 mark, the Wonder Boys had pulled as close as five points, 26-21, but SNU was able to score four of the final six points in the first half to give them a seven-point lead at the break, 30-23.
In the second half, the Wonder Boys methodically worked their way back into the game and pulled within a point, 37-36, at the 13:35 mark. SNU was able to hold off the Wonder Boys at that point and stayed in the lead until the 10:10 mark when the Wonder Boys took their first lead of the game on a tip-in by
Carlos Ramsey Jr.
The lead did not last long, however, as SNU split a trip to the free throw line on their next trip down the court to tie the score at 42-all. From there, the action was back-and-forth with neither team able to pull away.
Over the final 9:43 of the game after SNU tied the score at 42-all, the score was tied five more times while the lead changed hands seven times. The last of the ties saw SNU knot the score at 55-all with 1:29 to play and unfortunately, the last lead change was also in favor of SNU as they broke that 55-all tie with a three-pointer with 35 seconds left.
The Wonder Boys would not score the rest of the game while SNU made a pair of free throws under the 10-second mark to put the game away.
A trio of Wonder Boys would score in double figures with
Trey Allen leading the way with 13 points off the bench. Ramsey Jr. also came off the bench and added 12 points while
Cassius Brooks rounded out double-figure scoring with 10 points.
The Wonder Boys will now prepare for an extended run away from home as their next four games will be on the road. The first of those is a Thursday night game at East Central on January 16. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
