ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – The Arkansas Tech men's basketball team suffered a 90-72 loss on the road at Missouri Western on Friday afternoon.
In what played out as a tale of two halves, the Wonder Boys held a four-point lead at halftime, 39-35. In that half, the Wonder Boys shot 52% overall (15-of-29), 46% from three-point range (5-of-11) and 67% from the free throw line (4-of-6). On the other end, the Wonder Boys were able to hold Missouri Western to 38% overall (12-of-32), 33% from three (6-of-18) and 63% from the charity stripe (5-of-8).
Unfortunately, as the second half wore on, the Wonder Boys cooled some offensively while Missouri Western heated up to a boiling point as the Griffons began to gain control and put too much distance between them and the Wonder Boys.
After losing their lead at the 16:33 mark, the Wonder Boys kept withing striking distance of the Griffons and were as close as a point, 61-60, with 10:50 left. The aforementioned cold snap followed for Tech and Missouri Western took advantage as the Griffons built their lead out to double digits by the 5:33 mark.
The Missouri Western lead got as large as 20 points near the end of the game before it ended with an 18-point margin in favor of the Griffons.
Statistically, the Wonder Boys had three players score in double figures and were led by
Sam Bradford and his 23 points. Bradford added five rebounds, two assists and three steals to his stat line.
David Elliott IV was next in scoring with 14. He was 5-of-10 overall from the floor and had four assists.
Aiden Underdown rounded out double-figure scoring with 12 points. He was an unblemished 5-of-5 from the floor and added a team-high six rebounds.
The Wonder Boys will now prepare to open Great American Conference play this coming weekend as they will be at home against Northwestern Oklahoma on Thursday night and Southwestern Oklahoma on Saturday afternoon.
