The Ouachita Baptist University men’s basketball team made just four 3-pointers, and shot 50 percent from the free-throw line as Henderson State spoiled the Tigers’ Senior Night with a 68-57 victory Thursday night in a Gulf South Conference West Division game at Bill Vining Arena.
Ed Keyes paced Ouachita (13-13 overall, 3-10 GSC West) with 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting. Daniel Maddox had the hot hand earlier, but finished with 14 points and Quintin Smith chipped in with 12 as the Tigers were 21-of-58 (36 percent) from the field and 4-of-21 (19 percent) from behind the 3-point line.
After both teams started out slow, Henderson State grabbed a 20-14 lead after a Vincent Patterson 3-pointer with 9:26 remaining in the opening half. Ouachita rallied and took a 24-23 advantage after a tip-in by Ed Keyes with 5:41 left, but the Reddies ended the half on a 13-4 run to take a 37-27 lead into the break.
Henderson State (4-21, 2-11) extended the lead to 51-33 with 13:47 left on a Patterson jumper and the lead grew to as many as 56-36 after a Julian Bassett layup with 10:39 remaining.
Ouachita chipped away at the Reddies lead, cutting the deficit to 63-54 after a 3-pointer by Rowan Ledbetter, but Henderson State proved to be too much in defeating the Tigers.
Martin Mitchell led Henderson State with 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Sean Romey added 12 points and Patterson scored 11 as the Reddies were 27-of-54 (50 percent) from the floor and 6-of-15 (40 percent) from behind the arc.
Ouachita finishes the season 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 28 at Harding. The contest can be heard on the Ouachita Baptist University Athletic Web site at: obutigers.com or on KYXK-FM 106.9 and through live stats at: http://www.hardingsports.com/sports/mbball/LIVE/xlive.htm or on video at: http://www.pennatlantic.com/main.php?module=event-detail&eventId=9492
