BETHANY, Okla. – Trailing by 11 points at halftime and by as much as 19 points midway through the second half, the Arkansas Tech men's basketball team employed a furious comeback effort that saw them take one-point leads on three occasions over the final two minutes of the game, but ultimately fell short on the road to Southern Nazarene, 68-66.
That massive surge by the Wonder Boys started at the 12:29 mark of the second half. At that point,
Cassius Brooks made good on a pair of free throw attempts. That was the start of a 6-0 burst by the Wonder Boys that pulled them to within 13 points of the lead, 50-37, with 10:54 to go. All six of those points came at the free throw line as Tech was 6-of-6 with Brooks having four of those and
Braden Tanner the other two.
SNU was able to break the run by Tech and had their lead back out to 16 points by the 9:51 mark before the Wonder Boys went on an 8-0 burst to cut the deficit in half, leaving them down eight points, 55-47, with 7:25 to play. During that stretch, Brooks had a pair of free throws while Tanner hit consecutive three-point tries.
At the 7:10 mark, Tech was down by 10, 57-47, but then went on a 6-0 spurt to get within four points, 57-53, with 5:24 to play. That run featured a pair of three-point plays, one the new school way with a trifecta from beyond the arc from
Albright Obode and the second an old-fashioned three-point play by Brooks.
Shortly after that Brooks hoop-and-harm, SNU broke the run with a split trip to the line. That did not do much in the way of slowing Tech down, however, as the Wonder Boys scored the next six points of the game, and with 1:55 to play, had taken their first lead since the 18:41 mark of the first half. All six of those points scored were by Brooks.
The Crimson Storm had an immediate answer, unfortunately and converted an and-one opportunity to go back up by two, 61-59, with 1:36 left on the clock. On the ensuing possession, the Wonder Boys retook the lead on a converted and-one by Brooks.
With just over a minute to go, the lead swung back to SNU on a 2-for-2 trip to the line, but with 45 seconds left, Brooks buried a jumper to give Tech another one-point lead, 64-43. Again, however, the Crimson Storm were ready with the quick answer and knocked down a three-pointer on their next possession to take a two-point lead, 66-64, with 29 seconds left.
That would prove to be the final lead change of the game as SNU would go on to escape the comeback threat by two points, 68-66.
Brooks' big night saw him score 28 points. Overall from the floor, Brooks was 8-of-21 and 2-of-5 from three-point range, but he was a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line. Brooks also added seven rebounds, four assists and two steals. Tanner was next in scoring with 13 points. He was 4-of-8 overall from the floor and 3-of-5 from three-point range.
Carlos Ramsey Jr. rounded out double-figure scoring with 12 points.
The Wonder Boys will look to bounce back on Saturday afternoon as they are set to play at Oklahoma Baptist. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m.
