RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – In a winner-take-all game for the No. 8-seed in the upcoming Great American Conference Tournament between the Arkansas Tech and Southern Arkansas men's basketball teams, Arkansas Tech went out and left no doubt as they dominated SAU, winning by a score of 65-48.
With the win, the Wonder Boys secured the No. 8-seed in the GAC Tournament and will take on top-seeded Southern Nazarene on Thursday, March 6 at 8 p.m. This year, the GAC Tournament is being held at Southside Arena in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Ticket information will be released early next week.
As far as the game against SAU, the overall dominant performance by the Wonder Boys started on the defensive end. Tech would hold SAU to just 30% shooting overall (15-of-50) for the game while also forcing the Muleriders to commit more turnovers (16) than made field goals. On their offensive end, however, the Wonder Boys were highly efficient, shooting over 50% each half and 52% overall (26-of-50).
After SAU scored on the game's initial possession, the Wonder Boys would go on to keep SAU scoreless and without a made field goal for the next eight and a half minutes of game time. Over that stretch, the Wonder Boys were able to establish a double-digit lead. Even after SAU was able to snap that scoring drought, the Wonder Boys just continued to build on their lead, leading by as much as 19 points in the first half before taking a 16-point lead into the break.
Early in the second half, the Muleriders were able to get the deficit into single digits for a brief moment at the 16:21 mark, but the Wonder Boys quickly went back up by double digits on their next trip down the court.
The lead remained double figures the rest of the game and reached 20 points by the 6:43 mark and then its apex of 24 by the 2:48 mark before Tech ended up winning by 19 points.
Three players scored in double figures for the Wonder Boys with all three being seniors who were playing in their final game in Tucker Coliseum.
Kade Shaffer led the team in scoring with 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting overall and 3-of-5 from long range. Shaffer also had two assists and six steals.
Sean Cobb was next in scoring with 14 points, tying his single-game high this season. Cobb was also efficient in his scoring, going 6-of-7 overall. He added 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season.
Cassius Brooks rounded out double-figure scoring with 10 points. The fourth senior on this year's team,
Seybian Sims had three points and six rebounds.
