ALVA, Oklahoma – The Ouachita men's basketball team took it down to the final seconds and came out a winner, taking down Northwestern Oklahoma State by the final score of 79-78 Saturday afternoon.
Ouachita (15-7, 10-6 GAC) got off to a good start, scoring the first five points of the Tiger's final Oklahoma road game of the season. Northwestern Oklahoma State (12-10, 9-7 GAC) got on the scoreboard shortly afterwards, but Ouachita was quick to respond to each of the Rangers' baskets. The Tigers kept NWOSU at least two possessions away for the majority of the half. Ouachita pushed its lead to double digits by the 3:37 mark. The Tigers led by as many as 14 points with just over two-and-a-half minutes to go in the half but went into halftime leading by nine with the score of 36-27.
The Tigers pushed their lead back to double digits six seconds in to the second half on a dunk. Northwestern began to wake up and closed the gap to just one point after six minutes of action. NWOSU tied the game at 51-51 at the 12:32 mark and took its first lead of the game less than a minute later. The Rangers pushed their lead to five points a few baskets later. After trading baskets over the next six minutes, NWOSU had pushed its lead to six with just three minutes remaining.
The Rangers still had a five-point lead with 1:01 left to go. But then Ouachita found a spark. A
Shaun Williams three-pointer with 55 seconds left made it a three-point game.
Reggie Martin grabbed a steal and
Hobert Grayson followed it with a dunk to cut the deficit to just one point. NWOSU made it a two-point game after a free throw with 45 seconds left. A
Devyn Franklin free throw put it back at one point with 33 seconds on the clock.
With five seconds left in the game, Grayson comes up with a jumper to put the Tigers ahead by one. Ouachita held on over the final five seconds to win the game 79-78.
Grayson led the Tigers in four categories with 22 points, nine rebounds, five assists, and five steals.
Williams was next in scoring with 21 points and added two assists and two steals.
Franklin posted 13 points and eight rebounds.
Martin rounds out the Tigers in double figures with 12 points and added a block.
Ouachita now sits in a two-way tie for third place with just six games left in the regular season.
The Tigers will look to keep up the success when they host cross-street rival Henderson State on Thursday, February 13 at 7:30 p.m. with a blackout night at Bill Vining Arena.
