Ed Keyes put the final touches on a huge night with an alley-oop dunk with a little more than a minute remaining as the Ouachita Baptist University men’s basketball team knocked off No. 18 Drury, 66-56, Tuesday night at Bill Vining Arena.
Keyes scored 10 of his team-high 14 points in the first half and finished with seven rebounds. The senior was near perfect from the field shooting as he was 6-of-7 from the floor and 2-of-3 from the free-throw line. Jaranimo Marks scored in double figures for the seventh straight game, finishing with 13 points. Daniel Maddox came off the bench and went 4-of-7 shooting for 12 points.
The Tigers, who were 13-of-26 from the floor in the first half for 50 percent, raced out to a 10-6 lead with 15:31 remaining in the first half after a Rowan Ledbetter 3-pointer. Ouachita extended the margin to 20-8 with 10:45 left after a 3-pointer from Antonio Benjamin.
However, Drury chipped away at the lead and cut the deficit to 23-18 after a layup by Dominique Long with 6:11 left in the first half. Ouachita pushed the advantage to 23-20 with 4:23 remaining after a Marks jumper.
The Panthers, who were 9-of-29 shooting for 31 percent in the opening half, again cut the margin, this time to 27-24 after a pair of free throws by Long with 2:57 left in the half, but the Tigers pushed the lead to 31-24 after a pair of free throws by Keyes. With Ouachita leading 31-26, Keyes gave the Tigers a 33-26 advantage on a putback as time expired.
Ouachita (6-1) opened the second half with a pair of buckets to grab a 35-26 advantage, but back came the Panthers as Drury chipped away at the Tiger lead, cutting it to 44-41 after a layup by Long.
The Tigers responded by grabbing a 48-41 lead after a pair by Marks with 9:14 left. However, Drury made one last run with 5:39 remaining as Jamel Grant scored on a layup, cutting the margin to 55-51. But Ouachita continued to extend the lead as Brandon Rose drained a jumper with 3:13 left to give the Tigers a comfortable 61-52 advantage.
Chris Ijames paced the Panthers (4-2) with 16 points and Long added 14 points off the bench as Drury shot 20-of-56 from the field for 35.7 percent and were just 1-of-13 behind the 3-point line.
Ouachita remains home as the Tigers play host 7 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 4 to Texas A&M-Commerce at Bill Vining Arena. The game can be heard on the Ouachita athletic Web site at www.obutigers.com.
