The University of the Ozarks men’s basketball team snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 66-57 victory over UT-Tyler on Saturday in American Southwest Conference play.
It wasn’t easy, but the Eagles (6-12, 5-9) found a way to earn their first ASC win since January 4. Ozarks led 34-24 at the half behind Habeeb Kareem’s 10 points. The Patriots (4-13, 4-10) led for a good portion of the first half, but Ozarks took control of the game in the latter part of the half, owning a 29-19 advantage with 5:20 left. Kareem’s jumper at the 8:55 mark ignited the Eagles on a 13-6 run to close out the half.
Ozarks slowly let go of a double-digit lead in the second half when UT-Tyler cut the deficit to 36-33 with 15:46 remaining. The Patriots eventually took a one-point lead when Jeff Cotton hit a jumper at the 11:14 mark. The next eight minutes saw a back-and-forth battle before the Eagles established a 59-54 advantage on another Kareem shot. A 5-0 run over the next two minutes saw Ozarks build the lead to 64-54 when Jeremy Clark scored on a layup.
The game featured brothers Habeeb and Hakeem Kareem on opposite ends. The elder Kareem (Habeeb) got the most of his younger sibling by scoring 16 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Hakeem, a freshman, started the contest and had 5 points and 2 rebounds in the first half for UT-Tyler, but didn’t see much playing time after that.
UT-Tyler had only nine field goals in the first half, but held Ozarks to that same amount in the second half. Kareem, Chris Clark and Clint McHenry combined for 29 of Ozarks’ 42 rebounds.
McHenry’s 10 points followed Kareem’s 16 in the scoring column.
Prior to the game, former Ozarks’ stars Kenneth Little and Lori (Myers) Hines were inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame. Little, who starred in track and field from 1978-81, and Hines, who was a standout basketball player from 1993-97, made up the 2007 Hall of Fame class.
Ozarks will travel to Conway to face the University of Central Arkansas on Tuesday. It will be the first NCAA Division-I opponent for the Eagles in more than twenty years.
Ozarks will then travel to Richardson, Texas, to face UT-Dallas on Thursday and then on to Tyler, Texas, to face UT-Tyler on Saturday.