RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech men's basketball team resumed their regular season schedule on Saturday afternoon with a home game against Ouachita Baptist but came out on the downside of the 61-55 final score.
The entirety of the game was a closely played defensive battle. There were nine lead changes and three ties over the course of the 40-minute contest with no team holding a lead of double digits. In fact, the largest lead of the game on either side was nine points by Ouachita, but that came at the 5:05 mark of the second half as the Tigers led 53-44.
Despite that, the Wonder Boys worked to get within two points of the Ouachita lead by the 3:10 mark and later tied the score at 55-all with under 45 seconds left on the clock. That was the first time the Tigers did not have the out-right lead since the 6:50 mark of the first half.
Eight of the 11 points scored by Tech during that stretch came from
David Elliott IV with the final two being free throws that tied the score. Elliott would end as the team's second-leading scorer with 14 points.
Unfortunately, that tie did not last long as Ouachita drew a foul call on the ensuing inbounds and cashed in both attempts from the free throw line to retain their lead. The advantage then doubled for Ouachita as they took advantage of a Tech turnover and laid it in on the other end with under 30 seconds to go. The Tigers added two more free throws at the five-second mark to bring the score to its final of 61-55.
Aiden Underdown led the Wonder Boys in scoring with 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting.
The Wonder Boys will now prepare for their first two-game Oklahoma swing next week as they will play at Oklahoma Baptist on Thursday night and Southern Nazarene on Saturday afternoon. Both teams have been nationally-ranked this year. Oklahoma Baptist was receiving votes in the latest NABC Top-25 while Southern Nazarene was ranked No. 9.
