RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The University of West Alabama men's basketball team was held to a season-low 42 points as UWA fell 82-42 to nationally ranked Arkansas Tech on Saturday night.
Saturday's setback to ATU drops the Tigers to 3-2 on the season while the No. 23 Wonder Boys improve to 5-0 on the season. The Tigers return to action on Monday, Nov. 30, squaring off with Harding University at HU's Rhodes Arena in Searcy, Ark. Tip off is set for 7:30 p.m.
The Wonder Boys took command of the contest midway through the opening half after expanding a two-point, 19-17 lead at the 10:12 mark of the first half into an 18-point 35-17 lead with just 2:37 left in the first 20 minutes. ATU extended the margin out to 27 points going into the halftime break at 47-20. UWA was held to just 31 percent shooting in the opening half while ATU connected on 51 percent from the field. Senior Brian Murphy came off the bench to score nine of his team-high 12 points in the first half. The Birmingham, Ala.-guard posted UWA's final three points of the half with a free throw and a lay up with 59 seconds left.
ATU stretched its lead out to 40 points at the 5:46 mark of final half and took its largest lead of 78-37 with 2:59 remaining on a three-pointer by Willie Sanders. As a team, the Green and Gold drained 14 three-pointers in the contest. ATU continued to have the hot-shooting hand as it did in the opening half as it finished the affair hitting 50 percent of its shots (32-64). UWA finished the game shooting a season-low 33 percent and hitting just a pair of treys. The Red and White entered the affair averaging ten three-pointers per game. ATU also out-rebounded the Tigers, 44-28 and took advantage of 16 miscues.
Senior Richard Sirju added nine points in the setback while Jason Swanson and Brandon Hampton added seven and six points respectively. Senior Lucas Hall pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.
Marcus Pillow paced the ATU offense with a game-high 16 points. Jeremy Dunbar and Brandon Friedel pitched in 14 points each.
