RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Arkansas Tech highlighted Saturday’s Great American Conference men’s basketball contests by recording a road win over Southern Arkansas to move into a tie for first place in the league’s men’s basketball standings midway through the 2012 conference schedule.
ARKANSAS-MONTICELLO 70, OUACHITA BAPTIST 56
MONTICELLO, Ark. – Arkansas-Monticello (15-5, 5-3 GAC) moved to 9-0 at home and snapped its two-game conference losing skid by capturing a 70-56 win over Ouachita Baptist (11-7, 4-4 GAC) on Saturday inside Steelman Field House. UAM led for the majority of the first 12 minutes of the first half, before OBU used a an 18-5 scoring run to take a seven-point lead with 4:02 remaining in theopening period. UAM used an 8-0 run throughout the remainder of the first half to hold a 34-33 lead at halftime. The Boll Weevils used one of their best defensive halves of the season by holding the Tigers to 23 points on 34.5 percent field goal shooting in the final period. UAM outscored OBU 19-9 in the final six and a half minutes, 10 of those points coming at the foul line. UAM finished the game shooting 47.4 percent from the field, including a 56 percent outing from three-point range (10-of-18). UAM guard Kori Forge scored a game-high 18 points, 12 of which coming on three-pointers. Emmanuel Engulu led the Tigers with 12 points.
ARKANSAS TECH 89, SOUTHERN ARKANSAS 72
MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Arkansas Tech (14-4, 6-2 GAC) made 14 three-pointers to help capture its third consecutive win and sixth win in the last seven games by recording a road-victory over Southern Arkansas (11-9, 4-4 GAC) on Saturday by a final score of 89-72. The win also vaulted ATU into a two-way tie with Henderson State for first place in the GAC standings midway through the conference portion of the schedule. The Wonder Boys finished with 14 made three-pointers on 26 attempts led by Jeremy Hoard’s career-high 23 points in 23 minutes off the bench. All but two of his final point total came from three-pointers. Hoard was perfect from beyond the arc until the 1:21 mark of the second half. ATU led the majority of the first half and never trailed in the second half. The Muleriders forced the game’s third and final tie score with 13:30 remaining in the final period. From that point, the Wonder Boys outscored the Muleriders 38-21 throughout the remainder of the contest, holding as much as a 19-point during the final 40 seconds. In addition to Hoard’s game-high scoring total, ATU placed four other scorers in double-figures, including 14-point efforts from Mykel Cleveland and Jared Williamson. ChrisDavis led SAU with 16 points, while Chase Spruiell added 12 points.
SOUTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA STATE 64, EAST CENTRAL 62
DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern Oklahoma State (7-13, 3-5 GAC) held off East Central (3-15, 0-8 GAC) on Saturday at home to defeat the Tigers by a finalscore of 64-62 inside the Bloomer Sullivan Arena. The Tigers of ECU led for the majority of the first half and the first 11 minutes of the second half, holding as much as eight-point advantage on two different occasions. However, the Savage Storm rallied to force the game’s fifth tie with 8:58 remaining in regulation at 52-all. Southeastern grabbed a five-point lead with 5:37 remaining, which was immediately followed by a 6-0 run by ECU to give the Tigers a one-point lead with 3:01 remaining. Back-and-forth baskets again gave the Tigers a one-point advantage, this time with 37 seconds remaining. Southeastern’s Steven Kohli regained the lead for the Savage Storm with a jumper at the 32 second mark to give his team a 63-62 lead. After a turnover and a foul by ECU’s Bobby McAdoo with four seconds remaining, SOSU’s Ivan Johnson made one-of-two free-throw attempts to finalize the scoring. ECU’s Caprest Rhone collected a game-high 17 points, while Steven Kohli and Zac Downing led the Savage Storm with 13 points each.
HARDING 78, HENDERSON STATE 62
SEARCY, Ark. – Harding (10-8, 5-3 GAC) used a dominant defensive second-half performance to capture a 78-62 win over Henderson State (11-7, 6-2 GAC) at home on Saturday. HU’s win snapped HSU’s four-game winning streak and dropped the Reddies from sole possession of first place in the GAC standings to a two-way tie with Arkansas Tech. The Bisons outscored the Reddies 43-29 in the second half, holding HSU to 29 percent shooting in the final period. HU finished the contest shooting 41.4 percent from the field after making 43 percent of its shots in the second half. Neither team led by more than six points in the first half after the Bisons opened the game’s scoring with a pair of unanswered treys. HU never trailed in the second half, and grew its lead to as much as 16 points in the final minute. Four of HU’s starters reachdouble-figures in scoring, led by Spencer Bradley with 18 points. Zac Roddenberry added his third double-double of the season for the Bisons with 14 points and 14 boards in the win over HSU. Andrew Ensley led the Reddies with 14 points and nine rebounds.