A 16-2 run midway through the second half propelled Arkansas Tech University to a 94-80 non-conference men’s basketball victory over William Jewell College in Warrensburg, Mo., on Saturday afternoon.
R.J. Glasper sparked the decisive surge with a 17-foot jump shot and a layup to give the Wonder Boys a 69-58 edge with 10:30 to go.
Freddy Lee, Alex Brown and Will Adler added one 3-pointer apiece to help complete the run and increase the lead to 81-60 at the 6:24 mark.
Arkansas Tech (2-2) maintained at least an 11-point margin the rest of the way as it improved to 4-0 all-time against William Jewell and completed a 1-1 road trip to Missouri.
“We keep a stat on the bench called a shutout,” said Chad Kline, ATU head coach. “Three stops in a row is a shutout. We got two and two-thirds shutouts…eight stops in a row…at one point during the second half. Our defense was terrible yesterday (against Illinois-Springfield). William Jewell is so explosive offensively. I felt like if we could hold them close to 80 points, we’d have a chance. This is as good a 40 minutes as we have played so far this season. We were locked in to the scouting report. It will be nice to go into the Thanksgiving break on such a positive note.”
Adler finished with career highs of 28 points and 15 rebounds. He was 8-of-14 from 3-point range.
Glasper had a season-high 29 points, 22 of which came in the second half. Brown notched 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field, while Jacob Patterson notched nine points and seven rebounds. Freddy Lee dished out eight assists and committed zero turnovers for the Wonder Boys.
Keith Hayes scored a team-high 23 points for the Cardinals (1-5).
There were nine lead changes and six ties during the first half. William Jewell jumped out to a 21-9 lead over the first six-plus minutes only to see Arkansas Tech respond with a 13-0 run.
The Wonder Boys led 22-21 at the 11:28 mark of the opening period, and the margin remained within five points one way or the other for the balance of the half. Eysan Wiley’s layup for the Cardinals with three seconds showing tied the score 42-42 at the intermission.
The Wonder Boys will be idle until the beginning of Great American Conference play on Thursday, Nov. 29, against Ouachita Baptist University. Tip-off at Vining Arena in Arkadelphia is set for 7:30 p.m. Radio station KCJC 102.3 FM and www.arkansastechsports.com will provide live coverage.
