ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — Henderson State, behind 25 points from Kaylon Tappin and some big shots late, withstood a furious second-half rally from Ouachita Baptist on Tuesday night to defeat the Tigers 81-79 on their home floor in Bill Vining Arena.

The Reddies (9-8, 4-7), who led 41-30 at the break, came out firing on all cylinders to start the second half and used a 17-5 run in the first six minutes to take a 58-35 lead with 14:08 to play. It was at that moment that things shifted for Henderson, as Ouachita Baptist (6-10, 4-7) refused to miss from the 3-point line. In just over five minutes, the Tigers, who had gone 4-for-17 from beyond the arc in the first half, found themselves unconscious and knocked down six-consecutive 3-pointers to suddenly trim to deficit to just 65-60 with 8:34 to play.

Henderson held tough for the next five minutes, but the seventh-consecutive 3-pointer and five-straight free throws from OBU finally tied things up at 70-70 with 3:49 to go in the game. Needing a response, the Reddies got two big ones, in the form of 3-pointers from Chris Parker and Josh Jones on back-to-back possessions, which helped HSU stretch its lead back to 76-72. The Tigers got a bucket on the next trip down and after Tappin missed his only free throw of the evening to go 1-for-2 at the line, OBU knocked down two of its own from the stripe to make it 77-76 with just over a minute and a half left. Tappin atoned for his lone-missed free throw on Henderson's next possession, when he got a contested floater in the lane to roll in with just seconds left on the shot clock to push the Reddies to a 79-76 advantage.

With under a minute to go, OBU was not quite done with its 3-point theatrics, as the Tigers' Wesley Franklin knocked down a deep 3-pointer from the top of the key, Ouachita's eighth of the second half, to bring the roof off of the gym and knot things up once more at 79-79. With the game on the line, Henderson put the ball in the hands of Tappin, who was fouled with 25 seconds to go and calmly drained both free throws to give the Reddies the lead back 81-79. Needing two to tie or three to win on its last possession, OBU seemingly wanted the three, but Henderson's perimeter defense proved too strong. With four seconds left and OBU running out of options, Tiger freshman Kendarious Smith attacked the rim but was stripped. In the scramble, Brad Nairn grabbed the loose ball and was fouled with just 0.2 showing on the clock. Without enough time to catch and shoot, Nairn missed both free throws and the Tigers ran out of magic, as Henderson escaped with the 81-79 win.

Tappin led Henderson with 25 points, five rebounds and five assists, while also knocking down 13-of-14 shots from the free throw line, including some clutch ones late. His first bucket of the second half on a coast-to-coast layup gave Tappin the 1000th point of his Reddies career. Jones finished with 18 points and DJ Franklin added 14 points and 12 rebounds — 11 points and nine rebounds of which came in the first half. Parker chipped in 12 points and was a perfect 6-of-6 at the line.

The Reddies led for nearly 35 minutes of the game, and despite OBU going 8-for-8 from beyond the arc in the second half, never relinquished the lead during the Tiger's rally. Henderson shot 52 percent from the field as a team in the second half and 81.6 percent at the line, where it shot 31-for-38 in the win. The victory is the Reddies' second-straight over their rival dating back to last season.

Henderson returns to action on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. when it faces Southwestern Oklahoma State in the Duke Wells Center.