ARKADELPHIA – The Ouachita Baptist University men's basketball team cruised to a 91-65 exhibition win over the Royals of Ecclesia College at Bill Vining Arena Saturday night.
Ouachita started the game on a 9-1 run and never looked back; maintaining at least a three-point lead throughout the first half. The Tigers' lead grew as large as 11 several times, including their lead at the halftime mark with a score of 48-37.
The second half was more of the same with the Tigers starting with an 8-0 run to begin the half, holding the Royals scoreless for the first four minutes. Ouachita would hold the lead around that 17-point mark until the final five minutes of the contest, when the Tigers went up by 20-plus points. The Tigers led by as much as 28 points before finally ending with a 26-point win to improve to 2-0 on the year, despite having two of their top players out for the game.
Tylar Haynes picked up his first double double of the season, scoring 13 points to go along with 12 rebounds.
Offensively, the top scorer for the Tigers tonight was
Reggie Martin, leading the way with 18 points. Three other Tigers reached the double-digit point mark: Haynes had 13, T'Vondrick Henry had 11 and
Cailean Ables scored 10. Every single member of the Tiger team scored at least two points in tonight's game.
As a team, Ouachita shot 50 percent from the field, including 41 percent from three-point range.
The Tigers won the rebounding battle against the Royals, nabbing 39 boards to Ecclesia's 27. Haynes led all rebounders with 12. The next closest for Ouachita was
Adel Mellak with five.
Ouachita forced 21 turnovers, scoring 34 of their points off those turnovers.
The Tigers also dominated in the paint, putting up 54 points from inside the lane compared to the Royals' 28.
The Tigers' next matchup comes in the UA-Fort Smith Thanksgiving Classic as they will be facing off against Oklahoma Christian Friday, November 25
th in Fort Smith, Arkansas.
