ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech men's basketball team returned to action on Saturday afternoon for their first game of 2025. After an early start, Tech would be forced to play from behind for much of the second half and were just held at bay by Ouachita Baptist, 78-72.
Helping Ouachita keep a comeback by the Wonder Boys from taking place was a near perfect afternoon at the charity stripe. Overall, Ouachita missed just two of their 29 attempts from the line and went 17-of-18 alone in the second half.
The aforementioned early start by the Wonder Boys, however, had Tech with a nine-point lead, 12-3, with 15:10 to play in the first half. The Tigers eventually found their footing offensively, thanks, in part, to their success at the free throw line and grabbed a 21-19 lead by the 8:41 mark.
The two teams would trade three-pointers over the next minute or so of action to keep Ouachita in the lead by a couple of points. The latter of those three's was the start of a 7-0 scoring burst that pushed the Tigers' lead to six points, 28-22, with 6:39 to play in the first half.
On a couple of occasions, the Tigers would stretch the lead out as high as eight points, but the Wonder Boys were able to get as close as two points before heading into the locker room trailing by four, 37-33.
The Wonder Boys would come out in the second half and continue to apply pressure to Ouachita and briefly held a 41-39 lead. Despite the short-lived lead, Tech remained within striking distance and again held a small lead, this time at 55-54 with 8:39 to play. The Tigers then responded with a 4-0 mini run to regain the lead.
From there, the Tigers would remain in front the rest of the way out en route to the home win.
Three players scored in double figures with two others scoring nine for the Wonder Boys.
Jakob Zenon was the leading scorer with 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting. He was also 5-of-9 from three-point range. Next in scoring was Brooks with 16.
Braden Tanner added 10 points off the bench while
Seybian Sims and
Sean Cobb both had nine points apiece.
The Wonder Boys will now prepare to head back home for a pair of games inside Tucker Coliseum next week. The first is a Thursday night game against Oklahoma Baptist. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
