ARKADELPHIA -- With both teams coming off of tough road losses on Saturday, tonight's matchup between Ouachita Baptist and Henderson State should offer plenty of excitement as the Reddies make the short trip across Highway 7 for first in this basketball season's Battle of the Ravine series at Bill Vining Arena.
HSU (7-7 overall, 2-6 Great American Conference) enters the 205th meeting of the schools after an 82-72 loss at Arkansas-Monticello. The Tigers (5-8, 3-5) lost 77-73 at Harding.
The Tigers are 4-2 at home on the season, defeating Arkansas-Monticello 82-78 last Thursday, but Ouachita struggled late in the first half last week at Harding. They opened Saturday's game with a 12-3 run, but Harding responded with a 16-2 run that left the Tigers playing catch-up the rest of the night.
The Bisons took as much as a 14-point lead in the second half, but Ouachita was able to battle back to take a 73-72 lead with 1:11 to go. Harding's Braden Eggleston had a layup with 53 seconds remaining to force the final lead change of the game.
"We started out well the first few minutes of the game," said Tigers head coach Dennis Nutt. "We had a nice 10-point lead, and we had a bad little spell in there. They had a 16-2 run on us, so we go from up 10 to down nine at half. That was kind of the game.
"We fought ourselves back in the second half. We were ahead with 1:11. We gave ourselves a chance to win it, but I thought the stretch in the first half was the back-breaker for us. We just didn't get a chance to overcome it. The kids are battling, and they are trying to figure it out. We've had a rough little stretch the last several games and we are trying to figure it out."
Henderson held a single-point lead at halftime against Monticello, but an early 15-2 run in the second half by the Boll Weevils quickly erased the lead for a 59-45 advantage with 15 minutes remaining. The Reddies took a 17-4 run to trim the deficit to 63-62 with five minutes to go, but the Boll Weevils were able to outscore HSU 19-10 to claim the win.
Ouachita started the season 5-1, but its only win since Nov. 30 is last week's victory over Monticello. The Tigers are averaging 71.4 points per game while giving up 72.7. Shooting 45.8 percent from the field, the Tigers are averaging 8.5 made shots from distance per game with a 37.9 percent average on 3-pointers.
"We started out really good early in the year," Nutt said. "Then December came around, and we weren't the same team. We had a couple injuries, and we never seemed to get back on track. But it's a long year, the guys are working at it, that's the most important thing, and they're trying hard and want to be successful. We've just got to keep pushing ahead."
The Tigers return three starters from last season where they finished 14-14 (11-11 GAC) while splitting with the Reddies. OBU took a 76-60 win at Bill Vining Arena a year ago tonight, but Henderson took an 86-82 win at Duke Wells Center a month later.
"The history of these two teams, when they get together, it really doesn't matter about records. You just throw it out," Nutt said. "It's always a knock-down, drag-out. They're very talented. They're probably a lot like us. I'm sure they're still trying to figure things out, like we are. They are kind of a scary team. They've got talent at every spot. We will have to be ready to play.
"We go out to win every game, no matter where it is, home or away. The most important game is the next one. We're going to try to put a good game plan together. It's a little different time. Usually we are playing on this Monday night, tonight, but both of us agreed to move it to this Tuesday to try to keep the week the same and keep Sunday off. It is going to be a good challenge."
Henderson is struggling on the road, its only road victory coming on Nov. 10 against Minnesota State-Moorhead at the GAC/Northern Sun Showdown in Lancaster, Texas. The Reddies also return three seniors, including senior guard Kaylon Tappin, who is averaging 19.2 points per game with 38.9 percent distance shooting and 41.9 percent from the field.
Nutt noted he had not settled on tonight's starters at presstime.
"We are a little up in the air," he said. "We talked about it this morning, but I don't want to decide just yet."
Junior guard Mahlon Martin, of Little Rock, leads the Tigers in scoring with 12.5 points per game in 12 starts. The 5-10 Episcopal Collegiate grad is averaging 3.2 rebounds per game and 3.6 assists per game with a 47.7 percent field goal average and 47.7 percent shooting from distance.
Forward Matt Stanley, a 6-8 freshman from Norphlet High School in Cabot, averages 10.5 points per game while grabbing 4.3 rebounds per game and shooting 45.2 percent from the field and 36.4 percent from distance.
Senior Jontavis Willis, a 6-3 Norphlet graduate, is putting up 10.0 points per game with seven starts in 13 games. He is averaging 3.3 rebounds per game while hitting 37.6 percent from the field and 38.2 percent on 3-point shots.
Henderson junior Josh Jones, a 6-5 transfer from the University of Richmond, was held to nine points Saturday in Monticello, but he is averaging 14.8 points per game while averaging 49 percent from the field and 43.5 percent on 3-point attempts.
True freshman Chris Parker, a 6-1 guard from Plano, Texas, is the only other Reddie to average double-digit scoring with 13.2 points per game. Parker averages 4.4 assists per game with 47 percent shooting.
The Tigers lead the series, 106-98, which started in 1912. They have won six of the past eight and eight of the last 11 meetings of the two schools. The winning team has scored at least 80 points in the last five games.
Henderson coach Jimmy Elgas was not available for comment.
Tip-off is set for 7:30 at Bill Vining Arena.
Sports on 01/16/2018