ARKADELPHIA – It was cold and snowy outside, but the Ouachita men's basketball team stayed hot with an 81-70 win over Northwestern Oklahoma State Thursday evening at Bill Vining Arena.
Ouachita (9-4, 4-3 GAC) struck first in the Thursday night contest, but Northwestern Oklahoma State (6-7, 3-4GAC) was quick to answer. The first 10 minutes of action were close, with both sides trading single possession leads. After NWOSU tied things up at the 12:44 mark, Ouachita regained a lead that they would hold for the remainder of the half, and the game.
The rest of the first half saw the Tigers add some separation between them and the Rangers with a lead that continued to grow. Ouachita expanded their lead over the final 10 minutes of the opening frame, which hit its first-half peak at 13 points with 32 seconds on the clock. The Tigers went into the break leading by the score of 40-27.
There was no cool-off during halftime for Ouachita, as the Tigers pushed the lead out to 16 within the first 35 seconds of the second period. Ouachita led by as many as 17 points on more than one occasion over the remainder of the game. The Rangers did cut into the Tiger lead, bringing it down to single digits twice. But each time the Tigers had a timely answer to push their lead back out to double digits. Ouachita kept Northwestern out of reach over the final minutes to secure an 81-70 win over the Rangers, marking the fourth win in a row for the Tigers.
As a team, Ouachita shot nearly 50 percent from the field (49.1 percent) and exactly 40 percent from three-point range. The Tigers still lead the GAC in both field goal percentage (50.2 percent) and three-point percentage with 41.4 percent.
It should come as no surprise that
Hobert Grayson found his way to the top of the Tiger scorecard. The Gonzales, Louisiana native picked up his ninth double-double of the season with a team-high 25 points and a game-high 14 rebounds, making it 11 straight games with at least 20 points and retaking his spot as the GAC leader in both scoring and rebounding.
Reggie Martin was close behind with 18 points, tied for the team lead in assists with four and was third in rebounds with four. This was Martin's eighth game of the season to hit the double-digit scoring mark.
Shauwn Williams posted 13 points to round out the Tigers in double figures. Williams went 4-for-5 at the free throw line and tied with Martin for the team lead in assists with four each.
Devyn Franklin was second on the team in rebounds with five boards to go alone with nine points.
Gavin Snyder led the team in blocks with two.
The Tigers will look to keep the success going on Saturday, January 11 when they host the Bulldogs of Southwestern Oklahoma State University at 3 p.m. in Bill Vining Arena.
