DURANT, Oklahoma – The Ouachita men's basketball team took it down to the final second but fell 82-80 to Southeastern Oklahoma State University Saturday afternoon on the road.
Ouachita (5-3, 0-2 GAC) went nearly point-for-point with Southeastern Oklahoma State (3-5, 1-1 GAC) over the first five minutes of action, trading small leads back-and-forth. The Savage Storm held on to a lead for the next five minutes before the Tigers tied things back up 20-20. SEOSU took back the lead for the next four minutes when Ouachita was again able to tie the game up 27-27. The Tigers tied the game three more times before taking their first lead since the 17:35 mark with the score of 38-37 with three minutes on the clock. The Storm took back its lead with just over a minute remaining and held it until the halftime break. Ouachita went into the break trailing 41-45.
Southeastern took control early in the second half and pushed its lead out to eight points by the 16:45 mark. Within two minutes, Ouachita used a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to two points, but the Storm answered and pushed their lead out to 10 points with 10 minutes left. The Tigers again cut into the lead and brought it within one possession and kept it close until Southeastern made it a three-possession game again with just under six minutes to go. Ouachita closed the gap again and made it a three-point game with 1:19 left on the clock. The lead was cut to just a single point with 21 seconds left. A SEOSU free throw made the score 82-80 with 17 seconds left. The Tigers had chances to win it by grabbing an offensive rebound with three seconds left. After a missed layup, Ouachita forced a turnover with 1.7 seconds left to get another opportunity but could not get the final shot to fall and the Tigers dropped the road game 82-80.
Hobert Grayson again found himself at the top of the stat sheet, this time with 26 points and 13 rebounds to lead all players in both categories and earn his sixth double-double of the season.
Shaun Williams was next with 23 points, followed by
Reggie Martin with 13.
PJ Neal tied with Garyson for the team lead in assists with four each.
Ouachita will take on Arkansas-Little Rock in an exhibition game at the Jack Stephens Center on Tuesday, December 10 at 6:30 p.m. in Little Rock.
The Tigers will get back to GAC action at home on Thursday, December 12 against the Muleriders of Southern Arkansas University at 7:30 p.m. in Bill Vining Arena.
