ADA, Okla. – The East Central University men's basketball team hosted Ouachita Baptist University for its third GAC home game this week, falling to the purple Tigers 76-68 at the Kerr Activities Center.
 
The loss drops ECU to 10-9 overall and 5-8 in conference play.
 
"We did not play our best today. We will learn from this," Head Coach Daniel Wheeler said. "We have to learn how to be more consistent in our performance and approach. I believe we will figure it out."
 
Barron Tanner, Jr. opened the half with a three-pointer to get ECU on the board first. Both teams went on to trade baskets over the course of 15 minutes as there were nine lead changes and six ties before Ouachita took the final lead. The purple Tigers led by as much as eight points in the first half, but a layup from Romello Wilbert cut the lead down to six (40-34) going into halftime.
 
ECU had to fight from behind the entire half as Ouachita never trailed throughout the rest of the game. ECU clawed their way back to within five points on three different occasions and got as close to within three points at 55-52 with under 13 minutes left to play, but Ouachita started getting hot. The purple Tigers used a 13-1 scoring run to pull away and eventually extend their lead as high as 18 points (74-56). ECU chipped away at the lead towards the end, but it was not enough to overcome the deficit and Ouachita would close the game with a 76-68 victory.
 
A trio of Tigers scored in double figures – Barron Tanner, Jr., Leonard Dixon, and Jakeem Acres.
 
Tanner led with 15 points going 6-for13 from the field with 3-of-9 coming from the three-point line while Dixon was close behind with 14 points, shooting 5-for-7 from the floor with 4-of-6 coming from beyond the arc.
 
Acres scored 10 points going 3-for-5 from the three-point line.
 
The East Central University men's team will hit the road to Arkansas for a pair of GAC matches. They will face Arkansas Tech University Thursday, Feb, 2 at 7:30 p.m. and Harding University Saturday, Feb. 4 at 3:00 p.m.