HSU stagnates, OBU exacts ‘Ravine’ revenge
ARKADELPHIA — Ouachita Baptist got some sweet revenge Tuesday night as the Tigers held on to defeat Henderson State, 87-81, in the second installment this season of the Battle of the Ravine at the Duke Wells Center.
Trailing 40-33 at the break, the Tigers (12-13,
10-10 in the Great American Conference) opened the second half on a 9-2 run to knot the score at
42-42 with 2:54 off the clock. Henderson State
(13-13, 8-12) bounced back with a 5-0 run to pull ahead 47-42 by the 15:54 mark.
The Tigers made a slight comeback, but Henderson State pulled to a 54-48 lead at the
13:20 mark.
A layup by sophomore Trey Harris, of Little Rock McClellan, kicked off a 12-3 run to pull ahead, 63-57, senior Jontavis Willis, of Strong, hitting a pair of threes with Harris sinking a third in the run. The Reddies pulled within 65-63, but Ouachita Baptist hit an 8-0 run to stretch its lead to 73-63 with 2:49 remaining.
“My philosophy is always to let those guys play and figure some things out, and I think what they probably needed was for me to call some more sets and some more entries just to get us moving because, like I said, we got really stagnant,” said Henderson head coach Jimmy Elgas.
“I think when we just had some better entries and some better actions, it helped our guys move. I’ve got to keep helping our team do that, when we do get a little bit stagnant or the ball is, call something to help our guys function within our offense by having a set to get us moving.”
The two teams battled, keeping the spread around the 10-point mark before junior Josh Jones hit a 3-pointer with 34 seconds to go to pull within 82-77. Resorting to fouling the Tigers in an attempt to get the ball back and regain control, the Reddies could not cut the deficit any closer than four as the Tigers secured the win.
host Russellville (15-12) in the championship game Saturday night.
One of four Lady Bulldogs in double figures, freshman Kinley Fisher led all scorers with 16 points. Freshman Ally Sockey scored 13 points for Greenwood, while sophomore Angela Price had 11 points and sophomore Harley Terry finished with 10 points.
Junior Jenny Peake paced the Lady Wolves with 12 points and senior Taylor Wells had nine points. Senior Logan Keener scored nine points for Lake Hamilton.