SHAWNEE, Oklahoma – The Ouachita Baptist University men's basketball team ended its run and wrapped up its season in the semifinals of the Great American Conference Tournament, falling to fifth-seeded Arkansas Tech by a score of 73-66.
The back-and-forth semifinal contest started with Ouachita (12-16, 9-13 GAC) making the first shot on a layup from
Tylar Haynes. Arkansas Tech (16-14, 12-10 GAC) answered back with shot of their own, but the Tigers retook that lead and pushed it out to six points at the 16-minute mark. The Tigers held onto that lead for the next eight minutes, until the Wonder Boys tied the game up at 22-22 with eight-and-a-half minutes left in the first half. A
Jared Adams free throw broke the tie and gave Ouachita a one-point lead. Tech answered back and took its first lead of the game with 5:21 left in the half. The Wonder Boys pushed their lead out to seven points with nearly three minutes left. The Tigers were able to cut the deficit down to a single possession with 1:15 left, but with eight seconds left to go, Tech hit a jumper and Ouachita went into the break trailing by five.
The second half started with Arkansas Tech coming out hot, pushing their five-point lead out to 10 points after three minutes of play. Then the Tigers woke up and began chipping away at Tech's lead, going on a 13-3 run over the next four minutes to tie the game up at 45 all. Ouachita took their first lead of the second half on free throws from
Tylar Haynes. The next two minutes saw a tie and three lead changes, with Ouachita then going on a 8-0 run to lead 59-52 with seven minutes left to play.
Arkansas Tech tied things up and retook a lead 90 seconds later. The Tigers tied it and took the lead back on two
Alex Scariolo free throws with 5:25 left to go. Sacriolo hit a jumper to give the Tigers a three-point lead with 4:40 on the clock, but the Wonder Boys tied it back up 35 seconds later at 63-63. Ouachita took its final lead of the night on a free throw from
Reggie Martin with 2:35 left to go in the game, but Arkansas Tech tied it and retook the lead just 35 seconds later. Tech held that lead for the last two minutes to win the game and knock the Tigers out of the GAC Tournament with a score of 73-66.
The Tigers finished the season 12-16 overall and 9-13 in GAC play. The conference record was enough to get Ouachita back into the GAC Tournament after not making it last season. Ouachita made it to double-digit wins for the first time since the 2019-20 season, when they also went 12-16 overall. This season saw improvement over the last two, as many games ended with season-highs that had not been seen since at least the 2019-20 season.
Ma'Darius Hobson lead the Tigers in scoring and rebounds in his last collegiate contest. He put up 19 points, making 3-5 from beyond the arch. He also grabbed six boards on the night. Hobson finishes his Ouachita career ranked ninth all-time in career steals with 98 and was just three steals shy of cracking the top 10 single season steal list with 47. Hobson has been a top two scorer in each of his three seasons with the Tigers, including leading the team in scoring in the 2021-22 campaign.
Alex Scariolo was next in scoring with 13 points, followed by
Tylar Haynes with 12.
LaQuan Butler Jr. was next, scoring 10 points in his final collegiate contest. Butler was an integral part of the Tigers' team this season, as he was the team's leading scorer at 15.5 points per game. Butler also gets his name into the Ouachita history books, as his 50 steals this season ties him for tenth on the single season steals list.
LaQuan Butler Jr. was also named to the All-GAC second team this season.
This season also saw Head Coach
Dennis Nutt earn his 150
th win at the helm of the Tigers program. Nutt is just the second Ouachita men's basketball coach to earn 150 wins with the Tigers.
