BOX SCORE || BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – Two streaks continued as Arkansas Tech became the third-straight No. 5 seed to win the Great American Conference Men’s Basketball Championships, an 80-77 win against second-seeded East Central on Sunday from Bruin Fieldhouse, and thus assured the Wonder Boys of a seventh-straight NCAA Tournament appearance.
Mike Balogun, the Tournament’s MVP came out on fire as he scored 24 of his game-high 33 points in the opening 20 minutes, including his fifth 3-pointer of the half just before time expired to cut the ECU (21-10) lead down to 40-39. The Tigers pushed the lead to six before Arkansas Tech (18-13) when on a 24-6 run to take a 63-51 advantage.
The Wonder Boys continued to hold the lead throughout the second half and led 69-58 with 5:00 remaining when East Central became a furious late charge. The Tigers scored 17 of the next 24 points and twice pulled to within a single point. After free throws by Jay Murphy put Arkansas Tech back up by three points, ECU’s Stirling Thomas got off a deep 3-point try for the tie, but it caromed long off the backboard.
In addition to Balogun, Murphy and D.J. Jethroe represented the Wonder Boys on the All-Tournament Team. Murphy averaged 19.0 points in the three games and Jethroe averaged 14.0 points and 7.3 rebounds. Thomas finished with 27 points in defeat and led three Tigers onto the eight-man squad. Henry Pwono and Braxton Reeves joined Thomas. Reeves hit 10-of-19 3-point tries and the tournament and finished the season with a GAC-record 100 3-point field goals. Southwestern Oklahoma State’s Martell Collins and Harding’s Blake McNair rounded out the team.
Arkansas Tech will learn its tournament fate during Sunday night’s NCAA.com Selection Show. It airs at 9:30 PM CDT.