RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – No. 22 Angelo State suffered its first loss of the season after falling 74-64 to Arkansas Tech on Thursday in a non-conference game that was tied at 31 at halftime at the Tucker Coliseum.

The Rams (10-1) saw their program-best 10-game winning streak end to the Wonder Boys (6-4) who made 26 free throws and had a 30-8 advantage on points in the paint. ASU was limited to 32.3 percent shooting in the game, despite hitting a season-high nine 3-pointers in the game. The Wonder Boys went on an 11-0 run with the final six points of the run coming on free throws with five minutes remaining to pull away in a game that tightly contest through the first 32 minutes. ASU, which had a 55-54 lead before the run, went scoreless for four minutes and could never recover.

"Give Arkansas Tech all the credit tonight," ASU head coach Chris Beard said. "There is a reason they have been to five consecutive NCAA tournaments. There is a reason they beat Midwestern State, arguably the best team in our conference, earlier this month. That reason is that they are a well-coached team with experienced and talented players."

Tommy Woolridge led the Rams with 19 points, including scoring 16 of those points in the second half. The junior guard came into the game as a reserve and hit three 3-pointers and went 6 of 6 from the free-throw line for the Rams. Kenny Williams added 14 points, four rebounds and three assists, while Chris Talkington scored 11 points and had six rebounds. Daniel Skinner led the Rams with seven rebounds, but was limited to five points in the game. Chantz Chambers and Bryan Hammond both had six points in the loss.

Angelo State will return to action at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Arkansas-Monticello in its final non-conference game of the season and the last game in the 2013 calendar year.

"You can't win college basketball games shooting 32 percent from the floor," Beard said. "We have to coach better, play better and shoot better. We will get back to work tomorrow."

Williams ended a four-minute scoring drought (8:24 to 4:20) by the Rams with a pair of free throws and Hammond hit a layup to cut the ASU deficit to 68-59 with 3:37 remaining. Woolridge would keep the game close, hitting a jumper with 2:48 to play and then two free throws to bring the game to 70-64 with 2:18 to play.

A 4-0 Wonder Boy run was stopped earlier in the second half by a Woolridge 3-pointer with 12:31 to play, taking the score to 46-45 in favor of Tech. Woolridge, who had only three points in the first half, continued his strong second-half play with a pair of free throws to cut ASU's deficit to 51-50 and then hit another 3-pointer to give the Rams a 55-54 lead with 8:24 to play.

Arkansas Tech, which has advanced to the past five NCAA Division II tournaments, shot 52.6 percent in the second half, including hitting three 3-pointers and making 20 free throws. Tyler Friedel led the Wonder Boys with 18 points, including hitting four 3-pointers and making all four of his free-throw attempts. Bobby Hatchett added 16 points, while Marshawn Arnold had 13 points and nine rebounds.

The Rams were down 11-4 just five minutes into the game with Friedel scoring seven of the first 11 points for the Wonder Boys and the Rams hitting only two of their first six shots. Friedel would hit his second 3-pointer of the game to extend the lead to 14-6 a minute followed by a Little 3-pointer to give ATU a 17-7 lead. Williams stopped the run by hitting a 3-pointer for the Rams and was followed by Woolridge who drilled another 3-pointer to cut the score to 17-14 with 12 minutes to play in the first half.  

The Wonder Boys would take a 21-14 lead, but Talkington hit a jumper and a 3-pointer to make it 21-19 with seven minutes to play in the first half. That momentum was halted by a 6-0 ATU run before Talkington was fouled while hitting a 3-pointer, made the free throw and took the score to 27-23. Chambers then hit another ASU 3-pointer to make it 29-26 and then hit another one to give ASU its first lead of the game at 31-29 with 1:22 to play in the half.

Talkington led the Rams with 11 points and four rebounds in the first 20 minutes, while Williams had eight points, three rebounds and two assists. Chambers had six points on two 3-pointers in his reserve role and also added three rebounds. Friedel led the Wonder Boys 10 points with Arnold adding eight.