ARKADELPHIA, Ark. - The Ouachita Tigers' men's basketball team loss to Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Okla. on Thursday night by a final of 84-78. Justin McCleary led Ouachita with 19 points followed by Mahlon Martin's 18. Jonatvis Willis and Lakee Westbrook also reached double figures, scoring 11 and 10 respectively. The loss dropped the Tigers to 8-8 overall and 6-6 in GAC play. 

Ouachita trailed by as many as seven early in the first half, down 13-6 with 15 minutes to play in the first have. Jontavis Willis forced a SNU turnover with a steal and drained a three on the other end to cut the Crimson Storm lead to two with 12:48 to play. Lakee Westbrook tied it a 15-15. Mahlon Martin stole the ball from SNU's Chris Stephens and converted the layup to give Ouachita their first lead since the first minute of the half. Ouachita's Justin McCleary led the Tiger offense through the remainder of the first half, scoring nine. Southern Nazarene retook the lead the late and closed out the first half with an 8-0 run to lead 36-28.

Southern Nazarene scored the first five points of the second half, extending their lead to 13. The Tigers began to chip away at the lead when Martin converted another steal into two points with a fast-break layup at the 13:36 mark. After a jumper by McCleary cut the lead to 10, Martin made four straight baskets, including three from beyond the arc to bring Ouachita within five, trailing 58-53 with 11:21 to play. martin scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half. The Crimson Storm answered the challenge with a series of small runs and built their lead back to double-digits. The Tigers would get to within three with 2:52 to play after Carven Holcolmbe scored inside and then followed with a free throw. However, Southern Nazarene would make free throws down the stretch to hold on to the lead and the win.

The Tigers will face Oklahoma Baptist on Saturday, Jan. 28 in Shawnee, Okla. Tip-off is set for 3:00 p.m.