The 2015 Great American Conference Basketball Tournament is in the books as Harding won 68-50 over Arkansas Tech in the womens final and East Central's three-pointer at the buzzer fell short as Arkansas Tech won the mens title 80-77 at the Bruin Fieldhouse Sunday afternoon.

The womens game was much closer as the final score indicated.  ATU led for most of the game, but it was Harding that pulled the game away late in after shooting 51 percent in the second half. Arkansas Tech led 27-24 at halftime, but Harding outscored ATU 44-23 in the second half to win the GAC title.  With Harding hot shooting in the second half, ATU shot only 25 percent in the game. Overall, Harding shot 42 percent and out rebounded Arkansas Tech 44-39.  Harding was led by Arielle Saunders with 20 points and 15 rebounds, followed by A'ndrea Haney's 17 points and was 13 of 13 from the line.  Sydney Layrock finished the afternoon with 14 points.   ATU was led by Fatima Adams with 17 points.  With the victory, Harding improves to 23-6 overall while Arkansas Tech falls to 23-6 on the year.

The mens game was exciting just the womens contest.  East Central got off hot and led 19-9 early in the first half.  The Wonder Boys would make the game close, coming back and trailed 40-39 at halftime.  In the second half, ATU outscored the Tigers 41-37 to pull away and win the GAC title. There were three lead changes and four ties.  Arkansas Tech was led by Mike Balogun with a game high 33 points while Jay Murphy added 16 points.  Clarence Willard finished the afternoon with 15 points while D. J. Jethroe added 11 points.  As a team, the Wonder Boys shot 41 percent.  East Central's Stirling Thomas led the Tigers with 27 points and 10 rebounds while Henry Pwono finished with 16 points and Braxton Reeves added 12 points.  The Tigers shot 44 percent from the field.  The win improves ATU's record to 18-13 while East Central dropped to 21-10 on the season.  

Photos taken by Adam W. Hooper