Wonder Boys Fall to No. 6 UAH 83-76

Jaime Smith scored 23 points and Josh Magette added 19 points to lead the nationally sixth-ranked Alabama-Huntsville Chargers to an 83-76 victory over the Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys at Tucker Coliseum in Russellville on Thursday night.

Alabama-Huntsville (10-1) held a 42-31 edge at halftime, but Arkansas Tech scored the first 14 points of the second half to move in front 45-42 with 13:47 remaining.

Smith made 2-of-3 free throws at the 13:31 mark, setting the stage for the turning point in the game.

Magette scored seven straight points — layups at the 12:57 and 11:52 marks sandwiched around a 3-pointer with 12:29 left — to put the Chargers in front for good at 51-45.

Arkansas Tech (6-3) got back to within 76-73 on a Jeremy Dunbar jump shot with 47 seconds left, but the Chargers made 7-of-8 at the free throw line over the final 38.7 seconds to hold on.

James Causey scored a career-high 32 points for the Wonder Boys. He was 11-of-17 from the field, including 7-of-9 from 3-point range.

Willie Sanders had 17 points and Dunbar finished with 13 points for Arkansas Tech, which saw its 23-game regular season home winning streak come to an end.

It was the Wonder Boys’ first loss at home in a regular season game since a 50-35 setback against Christian Brothers on Jan. 31, 2009.

The Wonder Boys will host North Alabama at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 17, at Tucker Coliseum.

]]>