ADA, Okla. – The Ouachita Baptist Tigers battled to the buzzer but fell on the road against the East Central Tigers 90-76.

Despite the loss to ECU, Ouachita has officially clinched a spot in the GAC tournament.

East Central was coming off five straight losses and Ouachita was fighting for its GAC Tournament life. ECU took charge in the first half and went into halftime with a 14-point lead. The second half was the same story as ECU held its 14-point lead to the end.

 
Kendarious Smith led Ouachita with 24 points. Allie Freeman contributed 16.

Camron Talley led East Central with 20 points. Five other ECU players were in double digits.

East Central jumped ahead early and held the lead for the entire first half. Ouachita shot well from the field, but ECU was better from three-point land.

ECU's lead swelled to as much as 17, but Ouachita cut it to 14 before half.

Ouachita came out of halftime with a new energy. Less than eight minutes in, ECU's lead was down to nine.

Ouachita never went away, but eight was as close as the game would get.

Despite Ouachita's fight, East Central's offense was too much in a 14-point OBU loss.

Ouachita fell to 12-14, 9-12 in conference play while East Central improved to 17-10, 11-10 in conference.

The Tigers final game of the regular season will be Saturday Feb. 29 on the road against Southeastern Oklahoma State.

The game will start at 3 p.m. To stay up to date on all things Tiger basketball, stay tuned to obutigers.com.