By: JV Vinson
After a poor shooting performance from 3-point land, shooting just 24 percent from behind the arc, the Ouachita men’s basketball team relied on strong play from big men Tirrell Brown and Carven Holcomb to defeat conference opponent Southern Nazarene University 82-72.
“I obviously felt great about the win. I thought defensively we were really tuned into what we were doing and did a good job on their best player,” said Ouachita Coach Dennis Nutt.
With the win, the Tigers kept their winning streak alive with their ninth straight.
Ouachita (11-8, 11-2 GAC) posted their worse 3-point percentage of the season versus the Crimson Storm of Southern Nazarene but dominated in points in the paint outscoring the Southern Nazarene 36-18 in that category. Senior center Tirrell Brown led the Tigers in scoring with 21 points in 23 minutes, shooting 9-12 from the field as well as 3-4 from the foul line.
“We started off pretty slow but I think we picked it up by the end and got a nice win,” said Brown.
Junior Carven Holcomb tied his career high of 16 points going 6-9 from the field. Not only was the strong play of the big men key in the Tigers’ victory, but their free throw shooting played a huge part also as they shot 21-25 from the stripe at 84 percent. Ouachita is second in the GAC Conference standings behind Harding.
After defeating Ouachita in their first meeting, Southern Nazarene (8-11, 7-6 GAC) was unable to come out with the victory in the rematch despite shooting 41 percent from on 3-pointers. C.J White led the Crimson Storm in scoring with 20 followed by C.J Rodriguez with 18, including three from behind the arc. Following today’s loss the Crimson Storm dropped to sixth place in the GAC Conference standings.
The Tigers will look to push their streak to 10 as they take on Southeastern Oklahoma State in Durant Oklahoma on Feb. 4 at 7:30 p.m. It is the beginning of a three game road trip for the Tigers.
“We just worry about the next game,” said Nutt. “We have a road trip coming up. It’s going to be a very critical road trip for us so we’re approaching it with a one-game-a-time mentality and we’ll stick with that.”
