A fast start to the second half sent Arkansas Tech University to an 85-69 win over Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Great American Conference men’s basketball at Tucker Coliseum in Russellville on Saturday afternoon.
The Wonder Boys (2-0 overall, 2-0 GAC) made seven of their first eight field goal tries after halftime and used a 16-6 run over the first 4:08 of the second half to open up a 52-34 lead.
Arkansas Tech maintained at least a 13-point lead the rest of the way as it began a men’s basketball season with two consecutive wins for the first time since 2011-12.
“It was an ugly game in the first half, and that was a credit to (Northwestern Oklahoma State),” said Wonder Boys head coach Chad Kline. “We wanted to run, and they wanted to slow us down. I told our guys to just keep coming at them because I thought we were deeper than them. We kept running layers of bodies at them. Northwestern Oklahoma State played their tails off. I’m proud of our guys.”
Branden Williams scored 19 points on 9-of-10 shooting from the field to lead Tech in scoring. He also grabbed eight rebounds.
Bennie Lufile added 16 points for the Wonder Boys, while Freddy Lee contributed nine points, a game-high seven assists and five steals. Arkansas Tech tallied a 24-11 advantage in points off turnovers.
Adrian Motley scored a game-high 23 points for the Rangers (1-3, 0-2).
The Wonder Boys will be idle until Saturday, Nov. 26, when they will host Graceland University for a 1 p.m. non-conference game at Tucker Coliseum.
