WONDER BOYS SUFFER DISAPPOINTING LOSS AT
CHRISTIAN BROTHERS

        MEMPHIS, Tennessee – Arkansas Tech Men’s Basketball returned to action following a week off here Thursday and suffered one of its worst defeats of the season as the Wonder Boys fell 73-51 to Christian Brothers in Gulf South Conference action at Canale Arena.

The 22-point margin of defeat was Tech’s largest of the season and its most lopsided defeat since falling at home to North Alabama, 94-74, on Jan. 5.

Tech, which dropped its record to 14-8 overall and 5-4 in the GSC with the loss, couldn’t overcome 61 percent shooting from the Buccaneers and its own 35 percent (19-for-55) shooting from the field to fall into a four-tie for second place in the GSC West Division standings. Harding and Ouachita Baptist sit atop the West Division standings with identical 7-2 records.

“This was an embarrassing performance by our basketball team tonight,” Wonder Boys Head Coach Mark Downey said. “We had a week off to prepare, but we weren’t ready to go for some reason. There are no excuses for that.”

The Wonder Boys, who trailed 30-21 at the half, opened the second half with back-to-back three-pointers from junior guard Chad Henderson (Memphis, Tenn.) and sophomore guard Brandon Friedel (Victoria, Texas), to pull within 30-27 just 58 seconds out of the locker room, but that would as close as Tech would get over the remaining 19 minutes of the contest.

Following Tech’s second-half opening burst, the Bucs (14-9, 5-4 GSC) used a 8-0 run to pull out to a 38-30 lead. After junior forward Troy Marcus (Bronx, NY) hit on back-to-back lay-ups to pull Tech within 38-34, the Bucs used a 19-9 run over a span of eight minutes to push out to a 57-43 lead.

Tech, though, would use a 6-4 run to pull within 61-49 with 2:43 left in game, before CBU hit 8-of-10 free throws over the next two minutes to push its lead to 69-49. Tech stopped the run on a lay-up by Friedel with 38 seconds remaining, before CBU reserve forward Zach Welter closed the game’s scoring with two free throws and a lay-up to make the final margin.

“Every time we punched them, they punched us back,” the second-year Tech coach said. “We hit two threes in the first minute of the second half, but then we forgot to guard them.”

Tech was led by Friedel’s 13 points and seven rebounds, while Henderson, who was playing in his hometown, added 10 points.

Most of CBU’s damage offensively was done by Kevin Weybright, Nick Kohs and Reggie Peyton. Those three players combined to go 21-for-27 from the field and score a combined 56 points.

“We knew what they were going to do, they didn’t do anything different tonight than what they did in Russellville in January, but some reason, we didn’t find a way to stop them,” Downey added.

Weybright, the reigning GSC West Division Player of the Week, led the way for the Bucs with 25 points as he shot 8-for-11 from the field and was 3-for-5 from the 3-point line. Kohs added 18 points and 10 rebounds and shot 8-for-10 from floor, while Peyton scored 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting from floor.

For the game, Tech held a 30-26 edge on the glass, but committed 18 turnovers that led to 22 CBU points and was outscored, 36-22 in the paint.

The Wonder Boys will have little time to recover from Thursday’s loss as they return to action in less than 48 hours as they host Southern Arkansas in a 6 p.m. game Saturday at Tucker Coliseum. Tech collected a 74-64 win over the Muleriders in Magnolia, Ark., on Jan. 19.

“We just need to regroup and return home and get ready to face SAU on Saturday,” Downey added.

        Christian Brothers Box Score

-- Tech Athletics --