ARKADELPHIA, Ark. - The Ouachita Tigers men's basketball team defeated Southern Arkansas University 88-82 in overtime on Thursday night in Bill Vining Arena. The senior trio of
Lakee Westbrook,
Justin McCleary and
Carven Holcolmbe led the Tigers in scoring finishing with 30, 27 and 12 respectively.
Justin McCleary sank a pair of free throws late to surpass 1,000 points for his career. The win improved the Tigers to 12-11 overall and 10-9 in conference play, moving them up into sixth place in the GAC.
Ouachita carried a 36-33 into halftime after shooting 41.7 percent from the floor. Lakee Westbrook finished the first half with 14 points, while McCleary chipped in with 11. The two guards combined to go 10-18 from the floor 5-10 from the three-point line in the first half. Inside, Holcolmbe and
Aitor Lopez-Breton scored five and four respectively and pulled down a combined nine rebounds. The undersized Tigers held a 19-16 rebounding advantage at the end of the first half.
The Tigers built their lead in the second-half thanks to a 9-1 run over a two-minute stretch. A jumper by Holcolmbe put Ouachita up 10, 50-40 with 15:26 to play. SAU cut the Ouachita lead to single digits late in the second half.
Jordan Corbitt hit a three-pointer with 3:31 to play, putting Ouachita up seven. After three Mulerider free-throws, Corbitt hit a turn-around jumper with 1:13 to play to put Ouachita up 74-68. SAU's Keeton Tennison would sink three-pointers on the next two Mulerider possessions to tie it up, 74-74 and send the game to overtime.
In the overtime period, the Tigers shot 11-14 from the free-throw line while the Muleriders made only four of eight attempts from the charity stripe.
Isaiah Harper and Westbrook each went 4-4 from the free-throw line to seal the victory in overtime.
Justin McCleary sank a pair of free throws late in the overtime period and finished the game with 1,001 career points. Ouachita would hold for the 88-82 victory.
The Tigers will travel to Monticello, Ark. on Saturday to face the Arkansas-Monticello Weevils. Tipoff for that game is set for 3:00 p.m.
