ARKADELPHIA – The Ouachita men's basketball team picked up a 90-82 win over the Statesmen of Delta State University Thursday night at Vining Arena.
Ouachita (3-1, 0-0 GAC) started the night off close behind Delta State (3-2, 0-0 GSC) after the Statesmen scored the first four points of the contest. The Tigers kept it close and took their first lead of the game at the 15:43 mark in the first half. DSU retook the lead and lead by seven multiple times in the opening half of play. Ouachita closed the gap and tied the game up at 32-32 with 5:02 on the clock and took the lead at the same time with two
Devyn Franklin free throws. From there, the Tigers took back the lead and pushed it to six points just before the break. Ouachita went into the locker room leading 47-41.
The Tigers' lead hit the double-digit mark with 17:54 left in the game. Ouachita led by as many as 13 points with 13:22 on the clock before Delta State started to eat into the lead. Just under five minutes later, the game was tied at 63-63 with 8:53 left to go. The game went back and forth with Delta tying the game and Ouachita retaking its lead over the next couple minutes of action. The Tigers took back the lead for the final time with 6:12 on the clock. Ouachita held onto a slight advantage before pushing the lead out late to win the game 90-82 and get revenge for last year's loss to the Statesmen.
Hobert Grayson lit up the stat sheet again, this time for a career-high 31 points and 13 rebounds for his third double-double of the year.
Shaun Williams was next with 19 points, followed by
MJ Leslie with 16, and
Reggie Martin with 14. Williams and Leslie were tied for second on the team in rebounds with five each.
PJ Neal led the Tigers in assists with four.
Devyn Franklin led the team in steals with three.
As a team, Ouachita shot 56 percent from the field and almost 80 percent from the free throw line.
The Tigers will look to keep the success going when they take on the Royals of Ecclesia College on Tuesday, November 26 at 7 p.m. in Vining Arena.
