ARKADELPHIA – A second-half surge was just what the Tigers needed as the Ouachita men's basketball team took down Southwestern Oklahoma State 77-66 Thursday night at Bill Vining Arena.
Ouachita (7-13. 5-10 GAC) and Southwestern Oklahoma State (7-13, 7-8 GAC) started the game even, trading small leads over the first few minutes. Four minutes in, SWOSU retook the lead and began to take control of the game. The Bulldogs tried to push the lead to double digits, but the Tigers were consistently right there with an answer to keep the game within a few possessions. Southwestern led by as much as nine in the first half, and the Tigers went into halftime trailing by eight, 37-29.
The Tigers came out of the break hungry, making the first two shots to cut the lead to three. SWOSU was quick to answer back and push its lead back out to nine points with 15:39 left to go. But Ouachita wasn't ready to lay down yet, rattling off an 11-1 run over the next three minutes to take their first lead since early in the first half. From there, the Tigers were in the driver's seat. Ouachita started to extend it's lead now, pushing it to double digits with just over four minutes left to go. The Bulldogs brought it back within single digits, but seven points was the smallest that the Tigers' lead got over the final few minutes. Ouachita cruised through the final minutes to an 11-point, 77-66 victory over the Bulldogs, snapping a three-game losing streak.
Tonight's game was a tale of two halves; Ouachita shot 37.5 percent from the field in the first half, but turned it around with 68 percent shooting, along with 85.7 percent shooting from three-point range in the second half. The Tigers held SWOSU to 37.5 percent shooting in the second half, that includes 0.00 percent three-point shooting by the Bulldogs after a 40-percent first half.
It was a well-rounded effort by the Tigers tonight, with
Emorie Knox leading the team with 17 points, closely followed by
Reggie Martin with 16,
Terran Williams with 14, and
Tylar Haynes with 10 to round out the Tigers in double figures.
Martin almost had a double-double as he grabbed a team-high nine rebounds and led the team in assists with three.
The Tigers will look to keep the success going as they take on the third-place Rangers of Northwestern Oklahoma State on Saturday, February 10 at Bill Vining Arena. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m.
