SC Oklahoma News

The East Central men's basketball team opened its Arkansas road trip weekend strong with a 70-63 win over Arkansas Tech University at Tucker Coliseum Thursday night.
 
The Tigers are now 11-9 overall an 6-8 in conference play.

"Great road win against a good team, " Head Coach Daniel Wheeler said. "We had effort defensively, and that's why we won. Then we had a lot of guys step up and make timely plays on the offensive end. A true team win! Very proud of this group."
 
The opening half was back and forth for both teams, as there were five lead changes in the first seven minutes of play. ATU got up to a 12-8 lead before three back-to-back layups from Keyon Thomas and a pair of free throws from Godsgift Ezedinma sparked an 8-0 scoring run that allowed ECU to reclaim the lead for good.
 
The Tigers led as much as eight points before the Wonder Boys managed to get within two with just over five minutes until the break. But a three-pointer from Quinton Johnson II sparked yet another scoring run for the Tigers, and ECU would lead 32-27 going into halftime.
 
Both teams cooled off a bit at the start of the second half as only five field goals were made over the course of six minutes. The Wonder Boys fought their way back to within three at 43-40, but the Tigers fired back with a 10-0 run to take a double-digit lead at 53-40.
 
ATU tried to chip away at ECU late, but it wasn't enough, and the Tigers held on to win 70-63.
 
Keyon Thomas and Quinton Johnson II were the two Tigers to score in double-figures. Thomas led with 16 points going 6-for-9 from the field, while Johnson went 3-for-5 from the field, including a perfect 2-for-2 from the three-point line.
 
Godsgift Ezedinma and Luke Harper were next with nine points each. Ezedinma went 3-for-9 overall and Harper shot 4-for-8 from the field. 

Original source can be found here