FORT MYERS, Fla. --- Ryan Hopkins found his shooting touch from the perimeter in the second half to lead the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles to an 82-72 non-conference win over the Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys in men's basketball at Alico Arena on Saturday night.

Hopkins made six second-half 3-pointers as Florida Gulf Coast (6-2) fought off one comeback attempt after another by Arkansas Tech (4-3) to win its fifth consecutive outing and improve to 4-0 at home this season.

A 6-foot-5 senior guard and a transfer from NCAA Division I member Eastern Michigan University, Hopkins made a total of eight 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 27 points. He has now made 17 shots from 3-point range in Florida Gulf Coast's last two games.

Nearly half of the 114 shots attempted by the two teams during the game were 3-pointers. The Wonder Boys made 10-of-24 3-point attempts, while the Eagles connected on 14-of-31 shots from beyond the arc.

Tech's Rone Smith notched season highs of 22 points and 13 rebounds, while Jeremy Johnson had 18 points and Marcus Lyons and Terrence Martin added 12 points apiece for the Wonder Boys.

The Eagles led 37-30 at halftime, but Tech scored the first six points of the second half on back-to-back 3-pointers by Lyons and Martin. Florida Gulf Coast responded with a 14-4 run to open up a 51-40 edge at the 14:16 mark of the second half.

After a Wonder Boys' timeout, Andrew Stanek nailed a 3-pointer to spark a 7-0 Tech run that cut the Eagles' advantage to 51-47. The teams traded baskets before Hopkins hit consecutive 3-pointers that rebuilt the Florida Gulf Coast lead to 10 points at 59-49 with 8:34 left.

The Eagles went on to lead by as many as 15 points. A pair of 3-pointers by Lyons and four straight points by Johnson helped Tech close to within eight points of the lead twice in the final two minutes. Johnson later hit a trey in the closing seconds to trim the deficit to seven points, but that was as close as the Wonder Boys could get.

Bryan Crislip had 20 points and 11 assists for Florida Gulf Coast. Kelvin Coggins contributed 11 points and Marcus Watts chipped in 10 points for the Eagles.

The win allowed Florida Gulf Coast to avenge an 87-80 loss at Arkansas Tech last season in the only previous meeting between the two programs. That Wonder Boys' victory came after the Eagles had won their first 14 games of the 2003-04 season.

The Wonder Boys will visit Lamar University for a 7 p.m. game in Beaumont, Texas, next Saturday. The next home game for Tech's men is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Dec. 16 against Central Baptist College.

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