Alva, Okla. – The Tigers fell short 83-77 on the road against Northwestern Oklahoma State.

Trey Harris led the way for the Tigers with 17 points. Kendarious Smith added 13 off the bench. Freshman Leon Kalinic picked up his career high with 12 points.

For Northwestern, Parrish Hewitt led all scorers with 25. Jaedon Whitfield tallied 17 on 100 percent shooting from the field.

Once again, the Tigers had to play from behind. Northwestern captured the lead 18-16 and the Tigers were unable to regain a lead the rest of the game.

Twenty-two of the Tigers 26 first half points were contributed by the bench. Northwestern would not be denied from three-point range and went into halftime with a comfortable six-point lead. Ouachita held the lead for a mere 1:13 in the first half.

In the second half the Tigers came out with improved offensive efficiency. In the first ten minutes of the second, the Tigers shot 70 percent from the field, but still found themselves behind. Northwestern answered basket for basket, not allowing Ouachita to attain a lead.

With just above three minutes to play the Tigers began to press, but to no avail. The Ranger offense never slowed down and sprinted through the finish line to capture a six-point, near wall-to-wall, victory. The Tigers played a sound offensive game but failed to consistently stop the Rangers.

Ouachita fell to 6-7, 3-5 in conference play, while Northwestern Oklahoma State improved to 5-9, 2-6 in conference.

The Tigers will return to action on Thursday, Jan. 16 across the ravine against Henderson State. The game will start at 7:30 p.m. To stay up to date on all things Tiger basketball, stay tuned to obutigers.com.