Arkadelphia Ark. – The Tigers won 68-67 in intense fashion against the Southern Arkansas University Muleriders.

Junior forward Matt Stanley led the Tigers with 14 points on 50% shooting while adding seven rebounds. Senior guard Morris Talbert and junior guard Larenz Nero both reached double digits with 13 and 12 points respectively.

SAU's Jalen Brooks led all scorers with 22 points in 37 minutes. Trey Davis also added 12 for the Muleriders. 

Ouachita came out with a three pointer in the corner by Matt Stanley to take the early 3-0 lead. SAU would then take command early on in the first half as they jumped out to their largest lead of the game at 21-10. SAU would then go on to lead 28-18 halfway through the first half. 

Ouachita would come charging back as they went on a 12-0 run that spanned nearly eight minutes. Senior forward Kyle Wright would cap the run with a lay up to take the 30-28 lead. SAU got back on track and regained the lead with 28 seconds left in the first half on a bucket by Dru Smith. On the final possession of the first half Larenz Nero marched down the court to put up a buzzer beating floater to put Ouachita ahead 35-34 heading into halftime. 

The second half was back and forth as Ouachita and SAU traded buckets and scoring runs. With 6:30 to play Ouachita pulled out to an 11-point lead 61-52 on two free throws by senior Isaiah Harper. SAU would not go away, though, as they began to put together a run with five minutes to play. The Muleriders went on a 12-2 run capped by a game tying three pointer by Jalen Brooks with 17 seconds left in the contest. 

Coming out of a timeout, Ouachita's leading scorer Matt Stanley put the win in the books with a go-ahead free throw with 3 seconds to play to cap off the 68-67 win. 

The Tigers will return to action on Saturday, Dec. 14 as they travel to Searcy, Ark. to face off against the Harding University Bisons. The game will start at 7:30 p.m. To stay up to date on all things Tiger basketball, stay tuned to obutigers.com.