For a second consecutive Saturday, the comeback Wonder Boys broke the hearts of a hometown crowd.
Arkansas Tech University rallied from a 19-point deficit to defeat Southwestern Oklahoma State University 98-87 in Great American Conference basketball at the Pioneer Cellular Event Center in Weatherford, Okla.
It came one week after the Wonder Boys (13-4 overall, 9-4 GAC) came back from 23 points down to earn a road win over the University of Arkansas-Monticello.
“Our defense got us in the hole today,” said Arkansas Tech head coach Chad Kline. “We got down 19 points and stopped switching screens, and on the offensive end we started attacking the rim more. Once we got to the rim, they had to collapse and we could kick it out for horse shots. We can score in bunches. I kept telling the guys we haven’t hit our run yet. We just had to get some stops and rebounds. Credit the players. They never panic.”
Southwestern Oklahoma State led 46-27 at the 4:24 mark of the first half. The Wonder Boys called timeout, regrouped and outscored the Bulldogs 20-5 over a span of seven minutes to cut their deficit to 51-47 with 17:12 remaining in the second half.
Arkansas Tech took its first lead of the day at the 9:33 mark of the second half, moving in front 67-66 on a pair of Bennie Lufile free throws.
Grant Prusator kept it going by knocking down three consecutive 3-pointers over a span of less than a minute to stake the Wonder Boys to a 76-66 advantage with 7:54 left. It was the culmination of a 16-0 Tech run.
SWOSU pulled within 82-78 with 4:25 to go, but back-to-back baskets by Lufile followed by an Alex Brown 3-pointer extended the Wonder Boys’ margin to 89-79 with two minutes showing.
Arkansas Tech put away its 10th win in its last 12 games by making 9-of-11 free throws over the final 1:25.
Prusator finished with 23 points. He was 7-of-13 from 3-point range. Lufile and Brown notched 15 points apiece. Montrell Williams contributed 13 points and Freddy Lee had 12 points and nine assists.
Markeise Champion scored a game-high 24 points for the Bulldogs (5-13, 2-10).
The Wonder Boys will welcome Southern Nazarene University to Tucker Coliseum in Russellville for a 7:30 p.m. GAC contest on Thursday, Feb. 2.
