ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — Henderson State held Ouachita Baptist to 27% shooting in the second half and ended the game on an 11-3 run to defeat the Tigers for a record ninth-straight time, 57-49, Monday evening at Bill Vining Arena.

The nine-straight wins by the Reddies (13-8, 9-6) is the longest streak by either side in the 112 year history of the rivalry series. HSU has not lost to OBU since the 2017-18 season.

Alvin Miles led Henderson with 12 points off the bench. Tomislav Miholjcic had 11 points on 4-for-5 shooting and added eight rebounds.

It was a low-scoring, defensive battle throughout. Both teams had leads as large as five points in the opening half, but after 20 minutes the score was deadlocked at 23-23. The Reddies shot just 29% first, but forced nine Ouachita turnovers and closed the half on a 9-4 run.

The Tigers got going to start the second period and took their biggest lead of the game, 34-26, at the 16:56 mark behind an 11-3 run. Henderson slowly crawled back into it with a 7-2 spurt of its own to close the gap to 36-33, but Ouachita pulled away again and took a 41-34 advantage with 8:38 left.

Needing to find a spark, the Reddies got one from Miholjcic, who scored back-to-back buckets and jump-started a 12-5 run over the next six minutes. The response from Henderson knotted the score at 46-46 with 2:12 remaining in the game.

After trailing for the entire second half, the last two minutes belonged to HSU. It was Yuri Swinford who delivered the game-defining plays down the stretch, as the senior made two free throws to put the Reddies in front, a driving layup on the next possession to increase the lead to 50-46, and then came away with a steal in the backcourt with under a minute remaining to slam the door shut. 

Swinford's four points and two steals, as well as a clutch and-1 from Miles and multiple stops at the defensive end down the stretch, helped Henderson pull away and silence the hostile home crowd with a ninth-straight rivalry win.

Ouachita missed seven shots in the last 2:12 and hit just one of its last 10 to end the game. HSU out-rebounded the Tigers 47-35 in the victory and limited OBU to just eight points in the final 8:38 of regulation. The Reddies scored 34 points in the first 33 minutes of the game before exploding for 23 in the final seven. 

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