ARKADELPHIA – Ouachita Baptist University Men's Basketball team used a big second half surge to take down Champion Christian 88-71 in its final non-conference matchup of the season.
The first half was closer than Ouachita (3-3, 1-1 GAC) would have liked. The two teams exchanged leads a total of 16 times along with four tie scores. Ouachita's largest lead of the first half was just four points after the first two buckets of the game. Champion (0-9) had the largest lead of the half at five points, coming with 2:31 left to play. However, in those last two and a half minutes, Ouachita would go on an 8-0 run capped by a dunk from
T'vondrick Henry with 36 seconds left to take the lead 39-36 at the half.
The second half would be a different story, with Ouachita taking control early. While the teams would still trade shots back and forth, Ouachita was able to piece together shots and grow their lead to take over the game. Ouachita's lead would hit double-digits on a layup from
LaQuan Butler Jr. with 11:44 left in the game and would stay at double digits for the rest of the half (except for a span of 19 seconds in which the lead was only eight.) Ouachita would shoot 51 percent in the second half to help secure a win in the final non-conference game of the year.
Ouachita beat Champion in nearly every facet of the game; outrebounding them 52-41, and dominating the paint, putting up 54 points compared to Champion's 25. Ouachita also showed solid control of the ball tonight, turning the ball over just 10 times (a season low), while forcing 21 turnovers (a season high) from Champion.
Leading Ouachita tonight was
LaQuan Butler Jr. with 22 points, seven boards and five assists.
Tylar Haynes was next, nearly recording his second double double of the season with 20 points and nine rebounds. Two other Tigers had double-digit points:
Alex Scariolo with 11 and
T'vondrick Henry with 10.
Ouachita's next matchup will be Saturday, December 10 against the Muleriders of Southern Arkansas University at Bill Vining Arena.
