Arkansas Tech will enter Gulf South Conference men’s basketball play undefeated after the nationally fifth-ranked Wonder Boys defeated Champion Baptist 99-47 at Tucker Coliseum in Russellville on Tuesday night.
Laithe Massey (photographed) scored a career-high 20 points, grabbed five rebounds and made four assists with no turnovers in the victory.
The Wonder Boys (13-0) continued their best start to a season in 57 years and matched the seventh-longest winning streak in the history of Arkansas Tech men’s basketball (13) with the win.
The victory also allowed Arkansas Tech to maintain the distinction of being the only NCAA Division II or NCAA Division I member among more than 600 institutions to have both its men’s and women’s basketball teams undefeated at this point in the 2009-10 season.
Champion Baptist (7-14) scored the first six points of the game and held a 15-13 lead with 10:50 to go in the first half, but the Wonder Boys restored order with a 13-0 run.
The spurt included four points apiece from Massey, Willie Sanders and James Causey, who made a layup at the 7:55 mark to give Tech a 26-15 edge.
The Wonder Boys went on to lead 48-27 at halftime and by as many as 55 points during the second half.
Renard Allen had 12 points and eight rebounds for Tech, while Sanders and Causey finished with 10 points apiece. A total of 14 different Wonder Boys scored in the game, and no Tech player saw more than 23 minutes of action.
The Wonder Boys will host Southern Arkansas in their GSC opener at 6 p.m. Saturday. It will be the second half of a doubleheader, as the nationally 16th-ranked Arkansas Tech Golden Suns will host the Southern Arkansas Lady Muleriders at 4 p.m.
Admission will be free with a valid Tech identification card. Russellville radio station KWKK 100.9 FM and www.athletics.atu.edu will have live play-by-play coverage.
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