A 20-4 run early in the second half propelled Arkansas Tech University to a 76-69 Great American Conference men’s basketball victory over the University of Arkansas-Monticello Boll Weevils at Steelman Fieldhouse in Monticello on Saturday.
The Wonder Boys (15-11 overall, 10-10 GAC) built a 49-39 lead with 16:18 remaining on an Andrew Guillory 3-pointer. It was the beginning of Tech’s decisive surge.
When DeChriston McKinney capped the spurt with a layup at the 10:15 mark, the Wonder Boys held a 66-43 edge.
Arkansas Tech maintained a comfortable margin until UAM put together an 8-2 run and pulled within 72-59 with 4:11 left.
Freddy Lee stopped the Boll Weevils’ momentum with a steal that led to a Tyler Corley layup. The Wonder Boys led 74-59 with 3:04 left and steered it home for their sixth win in their last nine games.
With the victory, Arkansas Tech moved into sole possession of seventh place in the GAC men’s basketball standings. Tech is one win away from clinching a berth in the GAC Tournament March 3-6 in Bartlesville, Okla. The Wonder Boys are defending GAC Tournament champions.
“When you’ve only got eight healthy players, they all know they’re going to play and they aren’t nervous about mistakes because they know you can’t take them out,” said Arkansas Tech head coach Chad Kline. “We just have to take care of our own thing. We came ready to play. We spread them out when we went smaller and created open looks with our penetrate and dish.”
The Wonder Boys were 11-of-29 (38 percent) from 3-point range.
Corley paced Tech on Saturday with 18 points. Guillory netted 17 points and Mason Cline had 12 points. Lee contributed 11 points and a career-high seven assists. McKinney accumulated 10 points and 11 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season.
Andre Brown had 16 points and 11 rebounds for UAM (7-19, 5-15). It was the Boll Weevils’ eighth consecutive loss.
The Wonder Boys will host Southeastern Oklahoma State University for a 7:30 p.m. contest on Thursday, Feb. 25, and East Central University for a 3 p.m. game on Saturday, Feb. 27. They will be the final games of the 2015-16 regular season.
Tickets will be available at the Tucker Coliseum ticket office. Radio station KCJC 102.3 FM and www.arkansastechsports.com will have live coverage.
