BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – Nationally-ranked No. 21 and No. 1 seed Arkansas Tech avoided an opening round upset in the inaugural Great American Conference Men’s Basketball Championship Tournament by defeating the No. 8 seed Southern Arkansas by a final score of 54-53 on Thursday at Bruin Fieldhouse.

SAU’s Chris Davis led all scorers with 21 points in a 9-of-12 shooting performance.

ATU was led by Jared Williamson with 14 points and Johnie Davis with 13 points.

The Wonder Boys improve to 22-5 overall this season and will face the winner of the Southeastern Oklahoma State vs. Ouachita Baptist in the semi-finals on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. SAU ends its season with an overall record of 13-16.

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