Just two days after playing against NCAA Division I Kentucky at legendary Rupp Arena, the Ouachita Baptist University men’s basketball team completed exhibition play Sunday afternoon with a 65-61 victory against McNeese State at Burton Coliseum.
The Tigers, who dropped Friday’s exhibition contest to Kentucky, 94-72, lead by as many as eight points in the second after the first half ended tied at 28 Sunday against McNeese State.
A Brandon Rose layup with 7:21 remaining gave Ouachita a 51-43 lead, but the Cowboys rallied and cut the Tigers’ lead to 53-50 with 6:18 left after a dunk by John Pichon.
Ouachita pushed the margin to 56-50 after free throws by Ed Keyes with 5:25 remaining, but against McNeese State was able to cut the deficit after a Diego Kapelan 3-pointer with 4:06 left.
The Tigers got a pair of free throws by Daniel Maddox and a dunk by Keyes to extend the advantage to 60-53 with 2:53 left, but the Cowboys wouldn’t go away quietly, cutting the deficit to 60-58 after Pichon sank two free throws with 1:22 remaining.
Antonio Benjamin drained a clutch 3-pointer to push the Tigers lead to 63-58 with 48 seconds left, but Stephan Martin made one-of-two from the charity stripe with 16 seconds remaining. The Cowboys cut the margin to 63-61 after a dunk by Pichon with six seconds left, but Benjamin sealed the game at the line for Ouachita, knocking down a pair of free throws with six seconds left to give the Tigers a 65-61 victory.
Jaranimo Marks paced the Ouachita offense with 16 points on 4-of-9 shooting. Maddox recorded 15 points, while Keyes added 13 points and a team-high six rebounds. Ouachita, which was just 6-of-28 from the field in the first half, shot 35.2 percent for the game (19-of-54). The Tigers went to the free-throw line 34 times, making 23 shots.
Pichon led the Cowboys with 21 points on 6-of-9 shooting. P.J. Alawoya had a team-high 11 rebounds. McNeese State, which was 9-of-20 in the first half, finished the contest by shooting 39.6 percent (21-of-53) from the floor. The Cowboys were 15-of-22 from the charity stripe.
The Tigers open the regular season Nov. 15-16 at the St. Edward’s Shootout Classic against Texas A&M-International and host St. Edward’s in Austin, Texas.
