ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech men's basketball team had their three-game winning streak snapped on Thursday night as the Wonder Boys lost on the road at Henderson State, 63-59.
The relatively low-scoring affair between the Wonder Boys and Reddies did not mean there was not drama and excitement throughout. Over the course of the 40-minute game, the score was tied on 10 different occasions while the lead changed hands a remarkable 21 times.
With that extremely tight play, the largest lead for either team until the very end was just five points.
The Wonder Boys held the first five-point lead in the first half, while the Reddies were able to reach that mark a handful of times over the final five minutes of game time.
The anomaly of the five-point lead being the largest advantage on either side favored the Reddies as they were able to take a seven-point lead with 11 seconds left in the game. Helping them to that achievement was the charity stripe as they made six of their final eight free throw attempts over the final minute and a half of play.
That late-game success at the free throw line for the Reddies was an extension of a complete reversal of occurrences at the line.
In the first half, the Wonder Boys went to the free throw line 18 times and made 15 of their attempts while Henderson managed to get to the line just four times, making three. In the second half, however, the Reddies took 25 shots from the charity stripe and made 16. The Wonder Boys, conversely, only had one free throw attempt in the second half, making it on a completion of an and-one opportunity for
Aiden Underdown.
That imbalance of free throw opportunities paid off for the Reddies as their final seven points of the game came from the line and started with breaking what was a 54-all tie with just over two and a half minutes to play.
Playing a tight rotation of eight players on Thursday, the Wonder Boys balanced scoring all around.
Devin Foster led the team in scoring with a season-high 16 points. He was 5-of-8 overall and 4-of-7 from three-point range. Next in scoring was
Sam Bradford as he scored 11 points.
Damon Augustus and
Connor Davis added eight points each off the bench.
The Wonder Boys will now prepare for a home game on Monday, December 15 against Southern Arkansas. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
