ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – In a crucial GAC matchup, Ouachita Baptist drops its second straight home game 85-71 to East Central to fade farther back in the conference standings.

Ouachita came out hot to start the second half, but ECU finished the game even hotter. East Central was aggressive inside and OBU was unable to handle their force. In a game that could have flipped the standings, Ouachita was unable to capitalize on the opportunity. 

Trey Harris led Ouachita with 15 points and Allie Freeman contributed 13.

Camron Talley led ECU with 21. Matt Garriga scored 20.

Both teams started slow. ECU struggled at the rim, while Ouachita struggled from outside. Despite the inefficiencies, Ouachita established and held an early lead for nearly half of the first half.

ECU answered Ouachita's early control with physicality. East Central outworked Ouachita inside and established a twelve-point lead with four to play in the first. OBU would respond, however, with exterior ball movement that produced quality inside looks. In a back and forth first half, ECU went into halftime with a six-point lead.

Ouachita came out of halftime with a statement 10-2 run. ECU called a timeout to weather the storm and when both teams returned to the floor the intensity was noticeably higher.  With a little over 12 to play, ECU started to heat up from deep knocking down four threes in a two-minute span to take control.

Ouachita began to fade with a little under five to play and East Central shut the door to the tune of a 14-point victory.

Ouachita fell to 7-10, 4-8 in conference play, while East Central University improved to 13-5, 7-5 in conference.

The Tigers will look to get back in the win column Thursday, Jan. 30 on the road against Oklahoma Baptist University. The game will start at 7:30 p.m. To stay up to date on all things Tiger basketball, stay tuned to obutigers.com.