RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Delta State Statesmen’s second-half comeback effort came up short as they fell to No. 1 Arkansas Tech 88-77 Saturday in front of an announced sellout crowd of 3,970 at Tucker Coliseum.
Brandon Friedel scored a team-high 26 points to lead the Wonder Boys (18-0), who remained undefeated in Gulf South Conference play with a record of 5-0.
Chad Akins (Madison, Miss./Madison Central HS) scored a career-high 26 points on 9-of-17 shooting and handed out six assists to lead Delta State (13-4, 4-1 GSC)
The Wonder Boys seized control of the game early and never looked back as they used an 11-2 run between the 17:56 and 13:57 marks of the first half to take a 17-7 lead. Arkansas Tech never trailed the rest of the way, and took a 19-point lead into halftime.
Arkansas Tech led by as many as 26 points when Friedel knocked down a 3-pointer to put the Wonder Boys ahead 64-38 with 13:40 left to play. In turn, the Statesmen reeled off seven points in a row to cut the margin to 64-47 with 9:23 left in the game.
The two teams exchanged points for much of the contest’s remainder, and the Statesmen were unable to make any more significant cuts to ATU’s lead until the 1:24 mark, when Delta State completed on a 9-0 run to make the score 81-71.
The Wonder Boys’ lead, however, was too steep for Delta State to overcome, and the Statesmen were unable to cut the margin to single-digits in the second half.
Jeremie Davis (Arcadia, La./New Orleans) scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds for Delta State.
Eric Spencer (Marion, Ark./Arkansas-Fort Smith) scored nine points, while
Joe McCray (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Nebraska) and Roderick Ollie (Indianola, Miss./UAB) added eight points apiece for the Statesmen.
Jeremy Dunbar added 18 points for Arkansas Tech and was among five Wonder Boys scoring in double-figures.
Combined with the Lady Statesmen’s loss to Arkansas Tech in the women’s game earlier in the day, Delta State was swept in Russellville for the first time since January, 2002.
Akins’ six assists brought his career total to 497, which is only 52 away from Delta State career mark held by Scott Nagy, who suited up for the Statesmen from the 1985 through 1988 seasons.
The Statesmen return to action Thursday when they host Harding at Sillers Coliseum. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m.