RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech men's basketball team had their 2025-26 home-opener spoiled on Thursday night by No. 3-ranked Dallas Baptist as the Wonder Boys fell to the Patriots, 80-67.
DBU would lead wire-to-wire in the game and employed a frenetic defensive effort that stymied the Arkansas Tech offense, especially early in the game. That combination saw the Patriots push their lead out to double-digits by the 14:52 mark of the first half and then swell it as high as 20 points by the 5:16 mark before taking a 17-point lead into the locker room.
In that first half, DBU forced the Wonder Boys to turn the ball over 14 times and converted those into 18 points on their end.
The first 10 minutes or so of the second half was playing out similar to the first half as the Patriots pushed their lead over 30 points on a couple of occasions. The last of those instances came at the 10:11 mark.
Despite that sizable deficit, the Wonder Boys showed some resiliency and fought hard to get back in the game. By the 5:17 mark, they had almost cut the deficit in half and got as close as 11 points of the lead before the Patriots ended with a 13-point margin of victory.
Even with the sluggish offense in the first half, the Wonder Boys found their way in the second half and shot over 60% (17-of-28) in that period to end the game shooting at a 46% clip overall.
The Wonder Boys would have two players score in double figures and two more just off that at nine points apiece. David Elliot IV led the team with 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting overall and 3-of-6 from three-point range.
Devin Foster was next with 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting overall, 1-of-3 from three and 3-of-5 from the free throw line.
Aiden Underdown and
Brody Emberton were the two with nine points.
Tech will now prepare for a home game on Wednesday, November 26 against Northeastern State. Tip-off for the game is scheduled for 4 p.m. inside Tucker Coliseum.
