ARKADELPHIA – The Ouachita men's basketball used 56 percent shooting and 18 three pointers to pick up its first win of the season, cruising past Ecclesia 103-73 Thursday night at Bill Vining Arena.
The Tigers (1-2) and the Royals (0-2) both came out hot on offense, with Ouachita jumping out to an early seven-point lead thanks in part to
Kobe Dunlap's three three-pointers in the first two-and-a-half minutes. Ecclesia hung closely, even taking a small lead at the 11-minute mark. The Tigers retook it a minute later and held onto it for the rest of the game.
The Tigers pushed their regained lead to nine right before the break and took a 51-44 lead into halftime.
The defense warmed up in the second half and the offense stayed red hot. Ouachita held Ecclesia to just 29 points in the second half and held them to just 33 percent shooting and 18 percent from three compared to the Royal's 57 percent in the first half.
Ouachita continued adding to its lead, pushing it to double-digits two minutes into the second half. The Tigers' lead first hit 20 points near the seven-minute mark on a three pointer from
MJ Leslie, and their lead would peak at 34 points thanks to a
Terran Williams jumper with 1:49 left to play.
The Tigers connected on 41-of-73 shots from the field and 18-of-35 from three-point range. The 41 made field goals are the most the Tigers have made in a single game since hitting 42 against SEOSU in 2015.
The Tigers' 18 made three-pointers are the most in a single game in the GAC era and the most since at least 2001.
A total of five Tigers reached double digits in scoring tonight, led by
MJ Leslie with a career-high 24. Leslie reached those 24 points with the help of 7-11 three-point shooting. Leslie's seven threes were the most in a single game by a Tiger since Mahlon Martin racked up seven in 2019.
Kobe Dunlap was next with a career-high 22 points while going 6-8 from beyond the arch.
Next in scoring was
Terran Williams with 16, followed by
Reggie Martin with 15 and
Tylar Haynes with 13. Haynes also led in rebounding with six.
Emorie Knox led the Tiger in assists with six and steals with four. As a team, the Tigers racked up 23 assists, 10 steals and six blocks.
The Tigers will look to stay hot as they travel to take on the Statesmen on Delta State University this Saturday, November 18 in Cleveland, Mississippi. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.
