The 16th-ranked Ouachita Baptist University men’s basketball team couldn’t recover from a poor shooting second half and foul trouble as the Tigers dropped a 79-71 contest to No. 5 Central Oklahoma at Bill Greehey Arena Saturday afternoon during opening play of the River City Classic on the campus of St. Mary’s University.
The Tigers (9-2), who committed 21 turnovers, were 19-of-51 from the field for 38 percent.
Jaranimo Marks paced Ouachita with 18 points, while Ed Keyes 10 points and 15 rebounds for the double-double. Daniel Maddox added 11 boards as Ouachita lost for the first time since Nov. 15 in a 74-63 loss to Texas A&M-International at the St. Edward’s Shootout Classic.
After three lead changes in the first seven minutes, Central Oklahoma used a 6-0 run, capped by two free throws by Lance Harper to grab a 17-11 advantage with 10:48 remaining in the first half. However, Ouachita answered that run on buckets by Brandon Rose, Belford Williams and Maddox.
After a free throw by Adam Terneus gave the Bronchos a 18-17 lead, Maddox put the Tigers in front, 20-18, with a layup plus a free throw with 8:07 left in the first half.
Ouachita, which was plagued by foul trouble, led by as many as five four times in the opening half, including Rowan Ledbetter scoring on a layup with three seconds remaining to give the Tigers a 38-33 halftime lead.
Central Oklahoma (10-1) kept the game close as the Tigers could only get a Keyes dunk with 17:11 remaining to put Ouachita up 42-38. But the Bronchos’ defense stiffened, not allowing a Ouachita field goal until Maddox’s layup with 12:04 left. He was fouled on the play and completed the 3-point play to break a 43-all tie.
The Bronchos, who went on an 18-2 run to grabbed the advantage, took their first lead of the second half with 10:36 left as Harper scored on a fastbreak layup. Michael Sosanya was fouled on the next offensive possession, but was able to make one-of-two from the charity stripe. He was again fouled on the next trip down the floor, making a pair to give Central Oklahoma a 52-48 lead with 9:23 left.
Ouachita got a pair of free throws by Roger Eiland, but the tandem of Harper and Sosanya scored on back-to-back buckets and David Thomas drained a 3-pointer to give the Bronchos a commanding 59-50 advantage with 7:39 remaining.
Ouachita tried to rally from the big deficit as Maddox and Keyes were a combined 2-of-4 from the free-throw line, but Shane Carroll put the dagger in the Tigers with a 3-pointer from the right wing. Marks scored on a fastbreak layup to cut the lead to 65-54, but Eric Cazenave scored on a layup, while being fouled. He completed the three-point play with 4:18 remaining.
Marks drained a long 3-pointer with four minutes left, cutting the deficit to 68-57. However, Blake Livingston scored on a dunk to put the game away with a little more than three minutes left.
Harper finished with 20 points to lead all scorers, while Sosanya added 15 for the Bronchos, who shot 50 percent (27-of-54) from the floor and 22-of-33 from the free-throw line for 67 percent.
In other classic games Saturday, Arkansas Tech defeated Eastern New Mexico, 69-61 and Midwestern
State beat Northwest Missouri State, 84-78.
Ouachita concludes the 2008 portion of the schedule 3:00 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 21 at Bill Greehey Arena in the River City Classic against Midwestern State. The game can be followed on the Ouachita Baptist Athletic Web site through live stats: www.obutigers.com/sport.asp?Sport=Basketball%20-%20Men%27s or at: media.stmarytx.edu/~rattlerathletics/livestats/mbasketball/xlive.htm
