Box Score

SEARCY, Ark. – Playing at Rhodes Fieldhouse, one of the toughest road environments in all of college basketball, the Southern Arkansas men's basketball team came close to knocking off Harding as SAU's Chris Davis hit a game-tying three-pointer with time expiring to send the game into overtime. The extra-period would not be kind to the Muleriders, however, as they fell by a score of 93-87 on Thursday night.
 
The Muleriders (9-14, 5-12 GAC) would be forced to play from behind early on as the Bisons (18-7, 11-6)  scored the game's initial points, and then went on to build a double-digit lead through the first five minutes of the game. Harding would remain in control of the game for the next 10 minutes of play as they maintained a fairly comfortable lead.
 
Trailing by 11 points, 34-23, with 6:14 remaining in the first half, the Muleriders would rip off an 11-2 run over the next minute and a half to cut the Bisons' lead down to two points, 36-34. The Muleriders would finally complete their comeback effort and take their first lead of the game in the waning seconds of the first half as Duke Reed's layup sent SAU into the locker room with a two-point lead 44-42.
 
In that first half, the Muleriders were able to battle back into the game as they got a lot of high-percentage shots to fall, and ended the period with a 55% (16-of-29) success rate from the floor. In doing so, the Muleriders were able to dominate inside to the tune of an 18-6 points in the paint advantage over Harding.    
 
Action in the second half would be significantly closer as the two teams swapped a lead seven times, while also tying the game up on eight occasions.
 
Down by three points with 23 seconds remaining, the Muleriders' Davis knocked down a mid-range jumper to pull SAU to within a point, 79-78, with just 14 seconds remaining. The Muleriders would then foul Hayden Johnson as quickly as possible on the Bisons' ensuing inbounds play. Johnson made good on both attempts, and put the Bisons back up by three points with nine seconds remaining.
 
Without the luxury of a timeout to set up a play, the Muleriders quickly got the ball across the timeline following Johnson's final free throw as they positioned themselves for the game-tying attempt. It would not be an easy look as time was expiring, but Davis would not be denied as he buried the three-pointer to send the two teams into overtime for the second time this season.
 
The first meeting between the two was won by Harding in double overtime, 81-77, on January 17th in Magnolia. Thursday night's overtime battle between the two teams unfortunately would not yield a different result, however, as the Bisons overtook the Muleriders in the extra-period to earn the 93-87 win.
 
Despite having lost their last three games, the Muleriders are still in position to earn a berth into the upcoming Great American Conference Basketball Tournament as East Central (8-16, 5-13 GAC) fell at home to Southern Nazarene.
 
The Muleriders will now return home as they are set to play host to Arkansas Tech on Saturday, February 23rd at 4:00 p.m. at the W.T. Watson Athletic Center.