RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech men's basketball team got a much-needed boost on Thursday night as they beat East Central, 62-61, on a last-second three-pointer from
David Elliott IV.
The thrilling win snapped a lengthy skid by the Wonder Boys that started back in mid-December. During that stretch, the Wonder Boys were competitive throughout but were on the short end of five close games. Thursday night, proved to be opposite.
After playing from being most of the first half, the Wonder Boys never let the game get out of reach and went into the locker room trailing by just two points, 33-31.
Out of the break, the Wonder Boys scored the first four points to grab a 35-33 lead with 17:41 on the clock. That was the start of four lead changes that occurred within a two-minute period of game time.
The back-and-forth nature of the game continued and there were two more lead changes by the 10:43 mark. The last of those changes was in favor of ECU. The Tigers would remain in the lead until a
Connor Davis layup at the 3:49 mark put Tech up 55-54.
The Wonder Boys' lead then went to three, 57-54 with just under three minutes left, but ECU answered right back with a made three-pointer, tying the game at 57-all with 2:25 left. The Tigers then broke the tie with a pair of made free throws with 50 seconds left.
On the Wonder Boys' ensuing possession, they would also make a pair of free throws, knotting the score at 59-all and under 30 seconds left. Without the shot clock, the Tigers would score the go-ahead basket on a layup with 2.4 seconds left.
Tech would call a timeout on the make to set up the final play of the game.
Out of the timeout,
Brody Emberton entered for the first time and triggered the in-bounds. He would get the ball into Elliott IV, who then drove as close to the three-point line as could and managed to get off a shot from beyond the arc with 0.1 seconds left on the clock.
For all the frustration and anguish that the Wonder Boys had endured in a month's time, it all dissipated as Elliott IV's shot went through the net.
That three-pointer was the only one of the game for Elliott IV as he had missed the previous three attempts from long range. It was also the Wonder Boys' only make from three-point range in the second half as they were previously 0-for-4. For the game, Tech was only 3-of-14 from deep while ECU was 11-of-30.
Elliott IV ended with 13 points and was the second-leading scorer for Tech behind Davis, who scored a season-high 23 points. Davis was 10-of-16 overall from the floor.
Aiden Underdown added 10 points as well on 4-of-6 shooting.
The Wonder Boys will now look to keep the momentum rolling into Saturday against Southeastern Oklahoma. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. from inside Tucker Coliseum.
