ARKADELPHIA – The Ouachita Baptist University men's basketball team came out hot and cruised to a 77-65 win over Oklahoma Baptist to give the Tigers sole possession of fifth place in the Great American Conference standings.
Ouachita (10-8, 8-6 GAC) jumped out to an early 7-0 lead over Oklahoma Baptist (10-10, 7-7 GAC) to start the game and never looked back; leading for the entire contest. The game was only tied once, when the score was 0-0 before
LaQuan Butler Jr. drilled a three pointer with 18:53 left in the first. The first half was all Ouachita, with the Tigers putting together impressive runs. This was topped with a 13-0 run over the span of three minutes that saw four different Tigers score. Ouachita's largest lead of the game was 18 points, which came on a layup from
Jared Adams with just over nine minutes left in the first half. The Tigers were able to hold onto a double digit lead to the halftime buzzer and headed to the locker room up 42-30 over the Bison at the break.
The second half started out like the first as Ouachita came out shooting and added a quick three pointer from
Reggie Martin to push the lead back out to 15. But the Bison started to get into a rhythm and began putting together a few runs. Ouachita's double digit lead was brought down to just eight points at the 16 minute mark and shrank down to five points with eight minutes left. However, each time Oklahoma Baptist would get within striking distance, the Tigers were quick to respond and push the lead back out. With just over three minutes left in the game, the Tigers' lead was pushed back to 11 points on a jumper from
Ma'Darius Hobson and would stay at double digits for the remainder of the contest. Ouachita cruised over the last three minutes to a 12-point, 77-65 victory over the Bison.
The Tigers were led tonight by
LaQuan Butler Jr. who put up a career-high 24 points in tonight's game. The transfer senior scored those 24 points on 9-14 shooting, including 6-8 from three-point range. Butler Jr. also handed out three assists and grabbed three steals on the night.
Reggie Martin was next in scoring, putting up 16 points, tying a season high.
Ma'Darius Hobson was right behind with 15 points on the night. Hobson also handed out four assists to lead the team.
Alex Scariolo also hit double digits tonight with 12 points to round out the top Tiger scorers.
The Tigers shot lights out tonight, shooting 56.9 percent from the field tonight, along with shooting 61.1 percent from three. Both of which were season highs for Ouachita and the best the team has shot in both categories since February of 2019 against Arkansas Tech when it shot 60.4 percent from the field and 72.7 percent from three.
Tonight's win was also the first time the Tigers had beaten the Bison since January of 2020, and the first time they had beaten OKBU in Bill Vining Arena since January of 2019.
The Tigers will have a tough matchup for their next game, as theyhost first-place Southern Nazarene Sunday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. at Bill Vining Arena to try to make it three-straight wins.
