ARKADELPHIA, Ark. - Despite 26 points from Lakee Westbrook, the Ouachita Tigers fell to 2-2 in the Great American Conference after a 79-74 loss to the East Central Tigers on Saturday. ECU's Stirling Thomas led all players with 27 points.
East Central (5-2, 3-1 GAC) opened the game on a 7-0 run and maintained its lead until Westbrook knocked down a go-ahead three with 13:16 to go in the first half. ECU took the lead back, however, until an 11-4 run by Ouachita put the Tigers ahead 32-27 with 4:01 to go until halftime. The run featured six points from Westbrook and five from Justin McCleary.
The Tigers held their lead for the final four minutes of the first half but never led by more than six. After two free-throws from David Berete, the Tigers took a 41-38 lead into the break.
Westbrook missed only one field goal and one free-throw in the first half, scoring 17 points. McCleary followed with nine points and five rebounds. Ouachita netted 44.4 percent of shots from three-point range, but East Central was 50 percent from the floor, including 16 points in the paint.
In the second half, Ouachita maintained its lead but could not put ECU away, as Ouachita never led by more than seven. A 10-0 run finally gave East Central a 61-56 lead with less than eight minutes to play, and the final 8:14 featured five lead changes.
Berets gave Ouachita its final lead with 3:09 to go after two free-throws. Thomas followed, however with a layup to put ECU ahead 72-71. East Central then held off any comeback from Ouachita for the final two minutes of play. Thomas had 18 points for ECU in the second half.
ECU was 45.6 percent from the floor in the game, while Ouachita was only 36.7 percent. Ouachita out-rebounded ECU 42-31, but East Central had four more points in the paint and five more points from its bench.
Berete and McCleary followed Westbrook's 26 points with 15 points each. Tirrell Brown added eight points and nine rebounds.
The Tigers will return to action on Saturday, Dec. 12, as Ouachita travels to Commerce, Texas to take on Texas A&M - Commerce. The game is scheduled for 6 p.m.
