Box Score BOX SCORE

It was another classic match-up between Henderson State and Ouachita Baptist as the Tigers downed the Reddies 61-59 in the Southern Bancorp Battle of the Ravine, Thursday at Vining Arena in Arkadelphia, Ark.

OBU's Michael Morris broke a tie game at the foul line making one of two attempts, but the Tigers were able to get a rebound off of Morris' miss on the second attempt. Morris was fouled and again hit one of two free throws to make the score 61-59.

The Reddies were able to get the rebound the second time around and had 29 seconds left to work with.

Henderson's Jonathan Fitzgerald had an open drive at the basket, but the ball rolled off of back iron and Austin Mitchell came away with the rebound and was immediately fouled.

Mitchell, however, missed both free throw attempts and Joe McCoy came away with the defensive rebound for the Reddies. McCoy then had a chance to tie the score on the ensuing possession, but his layup attempt also went awry.

OBU, 9-7 overall and 5-5 in the Great American Conference, jumped out to a 21-11 lead with 8:43 remaining in the first-half as the Tigers hit six of their first nine field goals with the help of Colt Fason's 9 points during that stretch.

The Reddies stormed back and went on a 15-3 run as Denzel Lyles hit back-to-back 3-point field goals including a free throw, while Cory Henshall had a pair of layups off of offensive rebounds.

Jonathan Fitzgerald then gave the Reddies their first lead at the 4:26 by sinking two free throws to make the score 26-24.

The Tigers were able to regain the lead by ending the half out-scoring the Reddies 7-1 as Fason added five more points to his total and send the Tigers into the locker room leading 31-27.

The Tigers continued to hold the lead in the second-half until Taylor Smith busted a trifecta from the right wing to give Henderson a 45-44 advantage with 10:01 left in the game.

After OBU regained the lead, Peri James hit a pair of free throws and then Melvin Hayes hit his only 3-point field goal of the night to put the Reddies on top 50-46 with 7:30 remaining.
With the score tied at 52-52 with 3:56 to play, the two teams traded buckets until the Morris free throws.

Lyles, who sat out the previous two games, scored 19 points to lead the Reddies, while Andrew Ensley totaled 8 points before fouling out of the game with 2:02 remaining.

James ended the game with 7 points while Fitzgerald scored 7 points and added five assists.

Fason led OBU with a game-high 20 points, with Morris ending the game with 15 points.

Henderson ended the game shooting 37 percent from the floor converting on 21-of-58 attempts, while Ouachita Baptist was hit on 23-of-50 shots for 46 percent shooting.

The Reddies return home on Saturday to take on Arkansas-Monticello with opening tip-off set for 4 p.m. at the Duke Wells Center.