COVERAGE LINKS | GAME NOTES

ARKADELPHIA, Ark. - In the season's first edition of the Battle of the Ravine, Henderson State will head across the street to meet Ouachita Baptist Thursday, Jan. 25 at 7:30 p.m.

REDDIES REPORT (6-9, 5-5 GAC)
After a big home victory against Southeastern Oklahoma State, Henderson State dropped a contest to East Central Saturday, 78-77. Despite holding a nine-point lead with under two minutes remaining in regulation, the Reddies let the advantage slip away for its fourth one-possession loss in conference play. The defeat was only HSU's second loss at home this season.

Henderson St. can attribute some of its recent losses to struggles at the free-throw line. The red-and-gray have shot 68.0 percent or worse from the line in three of their last four games. Saturday, while hitting 10-of-15 from the charity stripe, four of those misses came in the final two minutes of game time to open the door for ECU's comeback. On the season, the Reddies are fifth in the GAC with a 70.2 team free-throw percentage. 

Scoring overall has been no issue for red-and-gray, as they are second in the league at 78.4 points per game. Through 15 games, that is HSU's highest scoring team since the 2019-20 squad that finished the season averaging 83.8 points per outing. Henderson's GAC third-ranked 47.1 team field-goal percentage has served the higher-than-normal scoring output.

Malek Davis has proven to be the Reddies' most consistent scorer, having contributed at least 17 points in four of the last five games and leading the team at 13.9 points per game. On the defensive side of the ball, the Cal Poly Humboldt transfer is averaging 1.6 steals, which is tied for sixth in the conference. Both Davis and Zyon Patterson are the only two Henderson players to be averaging over 30 minutes per contest.

Thursday will be the 218th all-time meeting between the cross-street rivals. Last season, with the overall series tied, 108-108, Henderson State used a 62-59 victory at home to move ahead in the historical head-to-head series. In the first meeting of the 2022-23 campaign between the two clubs, Ouachita Baptist got the win on its home floor, 74-69, snapping a nine-game HSU winning streak in the series.   

SCOUTING OUACHITA BAPTIST (5-10, 3-7 GAC)
Ouachita Baptist has split its last two games, beating East Central, 75-63, before losing to Southeastern Oklahoma State, 77-74. The Tigers now sit at 5-10 overall and 3-7 in GAC action, which is tied for 11th in the league standings. All three conference victories have come inside Bill Vining Arena. 

In two of its three such wins, OUA has held its opponent to fewer than 67 points. In the other victory, the Tigers scored 80 points against Arkansas-Monticello, which is their highest scoring game against a Division II opponent this season. Ouachita is seeing 71.1 points per game on offense for seventh in the league while holding teams to 73.0 points for eighth.

Ouachita Baptist boasts four players averaging at least 11 points per game, led by senior Tylar Haynes with 14.2 points. Haynes, who is also OUA's leading rebounder at 6.5 boards per outing, has scored in double figures in all but two contests he has appeared in this season. The Memphis, Tennessee, native has missed the Tigers' last two games.