ARKADELPHIA – The Ouachita Baptist University men's basketball team gave its seniors a memory never to forget in an 82-77 victory Southern Arkansas on Thursday night in the final home game of the season.
The Tigers (6-21, 4-17 GAC) honored seniors
Larenz Nero and
Jacob Street prior to the game. For the second straight game, Street turned in a career-high in points with 21 against the Muleriders, while also tying a career-high in made three-pointers, going 5-for-9 from beyond the arc. While Nero did not register any points, he contributed to the win with five rebounds and three assists.
Thursday night's game was an old-fashioned back-and-forth battle with neither team holding a double-digit lead at any point in the game. The largest lead for SAU was nine early in the second half. The Tigers held as much as a six-point lead late in the first half. There were a total of 12 lead changes and four tied scores.
Down the stretch in the final 10 minutes, there were seven lead changes with the Tigers taking the lead for the final time with 26 seconds remaining on a layup from
Tylar Haynes. On the other end in SAU's ensuing possession,
Alex Scariolo came up with a blocked shot and was then sent to the line, where he made both to put Ouachita up by three with 13 seconds remaining. SAU missed a three-pointer on its next possession, and this time,
Marvin Williams-Dunn made a pair of free throws for the final margin.
The Tigers stayed above 40 percent shooting for the game, and ended up at 45 percent from the field (29-for-65), 42 percent on three-pointers (29-for-65), and 68 percent on foul shots (13-for-19).
Although Street turned in a new career-high with his 21 points, the game's leading scorer was
Tylar Haynes with 25 points, also a career-high. Haynes also added a team-high 11 rebounds to make his fifth double-double of the season.
Alex Scariolo added 17 points in the win.
The Tigers close out the 2021-22 season this Saturday on the road against Arkansas-Monticello.
