WONDER BOYS CLOSE HOME SCHEDULE WITH HARD-FOUGHT
WIN OVER DELTA STATE ON SENIOR NIGHT

        RUSSELLVILLE, Arkansas – Arkansas Tech Men’s Basketball remained alive to earn its first berth in the Gulf South Conference Tournament since the 1999-00 season with its hard-fought 79-76 victory over Delta State on Senior Night at Tucker Coliseum.

Prior to Thursday’s game, the Wonder Boys honored its team’s two seniors – forwards Robert Kennedy (Madison, Ill.) and Jamill Jones (Philadelphia, Pa.).

Tech, who improved to 17-9 overall and 8-5 in the GSC, moved into fourth place in the league standings with the win and is now one game in front of both Delta State and Arkansas-Monticello and one game behind Christian Brothers and Ouachita Baptist in the West Division standings. Due to tiebreakers thanks to UAM’s sweep over the Wonder Boys, Tech still needs to travel to Arkadelphia, Ark., on Saturday and earn a win over Ouachita Baptist to secure its position in the GSC Tournament, which is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, March 6 at the DeSoto County Civic Center in Southaven, Miss.

“We need UAM to win both or lose both. We are rooting for SAU on Saturday, or we could go take care of business Saturday night,” Wonder Boys Head Coach Mark Downey said. “If things work out, we could be in second place on Saturday night or if they go bad, we could be in sixth place.”

In addition, Thursday’s game also gave the Wonder Boys its first 17-win season 1995-96 when the Wonder Boys finished with a 19-10 record. Last season, Tech finished with a 6-21 overall record and a 1-13 mark in the GSC.

“This is playoff basketball and is all about surviving and advancing this time year,” Downey said. “We have overcome obstacles all season. This bunch is resilient, wish they could have been a bit more resilient at times, but they’ve worked hard from day one.”

 Thursday’s win, which was Tech’s third straight at home and its 12th overall on the season at home, was won thanks to the solid inside play of Kennedy and junior forward Troy Marcus (Bronx, NY). Those two inside players combined for 35 points and 16 rebounds on the night, including a double-double by Marcus.

Marcus tallied 19 points and added 11 rebounds, while Kennedy, who played by far his best game since transferring to Tech prior to the start of the second semester from Murray State University, added a career-high 16 points and pulled down five boards in the win.

“Chad and Rob really stepped up tonight. They did a good job down there,” the second-year Tech coach said. “I’ve been waiting for that kind of performance from Troy (Marcus) all season with his 19 points and 11 rebounds.”

In addition to its solid inside play, junior guard Chad Henderson (Memphis, Tenn.) scored a game-high 23 points, including 12 points in the first half to help Tech take a 41-39 halftime lead. The fourth double figure scorer was junior forward Jamar Flowers (White Castle, La.), who tallied 10 points.

“I’ve been hard on Chad all season, he has a lot of potential, and I have to get it out of him,” said Downey. “Tonight, he stepped up and did his thing.”

In the second half, DSU, who trailed by as much as six points on several occasions after halftime, tied the game at 70 on a three-pointer from Justin Duke with 2:37 left in the game. From that point, Tech would seal the win by hitting 5-of-5 free throws down the stretch to hold DSU.

Tech’s offense, which finished the game shooting 45 percent from the field, was efficient most of the night as the Wonder Boys committed just nine turnovers in 40 minutes of basketball. In addition, Tech, who entered the game as the second-worst free throw shooting team in the league at 62 percent, shot 71 percent (10-for-14) from the line in the win.

“We finally had more assists than turnovers tonight, that was huge,” Downey added. “We finally did all the things statistically it takes to win a basketball game.”

The Wonder Boys held Delta State (13-12, 7-6 GSC) to 42 percent shooting from the field and 33 percent shooting from long distance and outrebounded the Statesmen, 42-39 and forced 14 turnovers that led to 14 points.

DSU was paced offensively by 15 points apiece from David Clark and Earnesto Green, while Duke added 14 points and Chad Akins had 11 points in the loss.

The Wonder Boys will close out the regular season on Saturday with a 5 p.m. match-up at Ouachita Baptist. OBU collected a 70-65 win over Tech earlier this season.

“OBU is an excellent ballclub. It is going to be tough to beat them, but we got to go down there and do it,” Downey said.

          Delta State Box Score       

-- Tech Athletics --