ARKADELPHIA – Ouachita Baptist University Men's Basketball opened up its regular season with a 72-57 win over the Arkansas Baptist College Buffaloes.
The first half was back and forth. Ouachita maintained a slim lead, but Arkansas Baptist stayed in the fight, keeping the Tigers' lead to a max of five points.
The Tigers woke up and put on a show in the second half, opening on an 11-2 run. Ouachita's lead would extend to 15 points twice in the second half. Arkansas Baptist would crawl back into the game, making it just a three point game with eight minutes left, but the Tigers would once again take control and push their lead to double digits where it would remain until the final buzzer.
Tylar Haynes would lead the Tigers tonight, almost securing a double-double with 18 points on eight-of-nine shooting and 9 rebounds. Haynes would also pick up two steals to tie for the team lead.
There were three Tigers that put up double-digit points in the contest, Haynes leading with 18, followed by
Reggie Martin with 16 and
LaQuan Butler Jr. with 14.
Alex Scariolo led the passers with five assists, followed closely by Martin with four.
Ouachita found a majority of their points coming in the paint, outscoring ABC in that category 54 to 26.
As a team, the Tigers shot 46.3 percent from the field, including a 59.4 percent second-half, outshooting ABC who shot 39.9 percent from the floor.
Ouachita also was able to outrebound the Buffaloes 43 to 32.
The next matchup for Ouachita will be the Royals of Ecclesia College in Bill Vining Arena Saturday, November 19 at 7:00p.m.
