SHAWNEE, Oklahoma – The Ouachita Baptist University men's basketball team upset top-seeded Southern Nazarene 70-67 behind a 27-point performance from
Ma'Darius Hobson Thursday night in the first round of the Great American Conference Tournament in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
Tonight's upset is the first time an eight-seed team as downed the one-seed in the men's GAC tournament since 2015.
The first half started with the eighth-seeded Ouachita (12-15, 9-13 GAC) making the first two baskets of the game to open the game up 5-0 over the top-seeded Southern Nazarene (25-4, 21-1 GAC). The Tigers held onto their opening lead for the next few minutes before the Crimson Storm took their first lead 8-7 with 16:09 on the clock in the first half. However, Ouachita answered right back with a jumper from Hobson to retake the lead 30 seconds later. The Tigers pushed their lead back out to five points, their biggest of the first half on a Hobson Dunk. SNU retook their lead with 9:42 left in the first half. Both teams then went on a four-minute scoreless streak that was finally broken by a
Tylar Haynes free throw that tied the game 19-19 with 5:42 left. The Tigers got the lead back on another Hobson jumper, but SNU quickly got back in front and stayed in front for the next three minutes. Ouachita tied the game with 2:14 left on a Haynes layup and took the lead back on a three-pointer from
LaQuan Butler Jr. The Tigers held that lead until the break and went into halftime with a two-point, 28-26 lead.
Southern Nazarene came out in the second half with their own 5-0 run to take a three point lead after the first 90 seconds. Ouachita got right back into it, going on a 10-0 run over the next three-and-a-half minutes to take a nine-point lead with 14:40 left to play. The Tigers pushed their lead to double-digits for the first time about three minutes later on a Haynes free throw to lead 45-35 with under 12 minutes to play. The Crimson Storm tried to chip away at Ouachita's lead, but with 10 minutes left, the Tigers were still on top by double-digits. The next nine minutes saw the two teams trade small runs; SNU would cut the Tigers' lead down to two possessions and Ouachita would push it back to 10 or 11 points. Ouachita would last see an 11-point lead with 3:43 left in the game.
Ouachita then got into a little bit of hot water as SNU kept chipping away at the Tigers' lead. Both teams missed crucial shots in the final few minutes, but the Crimson Storm was able to sink a few more than the Tigers and Ouachita was on the verge of losing its two possession lead with less than two minutes left to play. A layup from
Jared Adams put the Tigers up seven with 1:16 left in the contest. Southern Nazarene hit four free throws to make it just a three-point game with 39 seconds left. Two missed Tiger free throws gave SNU a chance to tie, but a missed shot and a Hobson rebound put the Tigers back at the free throw line with 26 seconds left. Hobson made one of two shots at the line to push it out to a four-point game with the Tigers on top 69-65 with 11 seconds on the clock. Five seconds later, SNU scored to cut it down to just a two-point difference. A Storm foul sent
Marvin Williams-Dunn back to the free throw line with five seconds left. Williams-Dunn missed the first, but made the second to give the Tigers a three-point, 70-67 lead. The Crimson Storm missed their last-second shot attempt and Ouachita completed the upset over the number 11 team in the nation to move on to the semifinals of the Great American Conference Tournament.
Ma'Darius Hobson showed out and played like he had a chip on his shoulder the entire night, scoring a game-high 26 points on 11-17 shooting that included 3-4 from three-point range. Hobson also grabbed seven rebounds, dished out three assists and snagged two steals.
LaQuan Butler Jr. was next in scoring. The Second Team All-GAC selection scored 18 points with five assists and two steals on the night.
Tylar Haynes followed with 12 points and eight rebounds in the game.
Jared Adams tied for the game lead in rebounds with 10 boards.
With tonight's win, Ouachita has now tied Arkansas Tech for the most wins in GAC Tournament history with 10 wins.
This was Ouachita's first win over a top-25 ranked opponent since taking down number nine Arkansas Tech on February 26, 2011, making it the Tigers' first top-25 win in the GAC era.
This contest was also the sixth time that Ouachita and Southern Nazarene have faced each other in the GAC Tournament, with the record being tied 3-3 between the two. No two teams have faced each other more in the tournament. This was also the fourth time in the tournament that the Tigers and Crimson Storm faced each other as the 1-seed versus the 8-seed.
Ouachita also snapped Southern Nazarene's 15-game win streak with the win; a streak that started back in mid-January for the Crimson Storm.
The Tigers will look to keep the run alive as they will be facing the winner of (4) East Central and (5) Arkansas Tech in the Semifinals of the Great American Conference Tournament on Saturday, March 4 at 5:45 at Firelake Arena in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
