ARKADELPHIA – The Ouachita men's basketball team started 2025 off with a 78-72 win over the Wonder Boys of Arkansas Tech Saturday afternoon at Bill Vining Arena.
Ouachita (8-4, 3-3 GAC) started off slow as Arkansas Tech (5-7, 2-4 GAC) took a 9-1 lead over the first four minutes. The Tigers scored their first field goal of the game at the 15:26 mark and started to find their rhythm to slowly chip away at the Wonder Boys' early advantage. Ouachita took its first lead of the half at the 8:41 mark. After a quick back-and-forth, the Tigers retook the lead less than a minute later and held it for the rest of the first half. Ouachita led by as many as eight points before going to the break up by four with the score of 37-33.
It was another slow start in the second half for the Tigers as Arkansas Tech quickly erased Ouachita's lead and took its own lead after just two-and-a-half minutes of action. The Tigers began to wake up and proceeded to tie the game and gain the lead back within two minutes. Similar to the first half, the two teams traded small leads and ties over the next eight minutes. In total, the second half saw five ties and four lead changes. The Tigers regained the lead for good with 8:22 left to go and held ATU just out of reach to secure the 78-72 GAC win.
Tonight's win snapped a five-game losing streak for Ouachita against Arkansas Tech.
The Tigers took advantage at the charity stripe in the win, hitting 27-of-29 free throws for a 93.1 percentage. The 27 made free throws are the most in a single game since Ouachita made 28 against Southern Arkansas in 2019. The 93.1 percent is the highest by the Tigers since shooting 95.2 percent from the line against East Central in the 2022-23 season.
Hobert Grayson lit up the scoreboard once again with 29 points and was just one rebound shy of a double-double with a team-high nine boards.
Reggie Martin was next in scoring and rebounding with 16 points and seven boards. Martin also tied with
Gavin Snyder for the team lead in steals with two each.
Shaun Williams led all passers with six assists and scored 14 points while going 10-for-10 at the free throw line.
The Tigers will be riding a three-game GAC win streak into their next matchup when they host the Rangers of Northwestern Oklahoma State University on Thursday, January 9 at 7:30 p.m. in Bill Vining Arena.
