SEARCY, Ark. – Playing in front of a packed house of 2,950 inside the Rhodes Field House on Saturday evening, the Southern Arkansas men's basketball team held a 12-point lead with 11 minutes left to play before the Harding Bisons fought their way back into a lead of their own and eventually iced the game away at the free throw line to hand SAU a tough 75-71 loss.
 
Saturday night's showdown between the Muleriders (13-6, 9-4 GAC) and the Bisons (11-8, 9-4 GAC) lived up to the billing from the opening tip as both teams engaged in a back-and-forth tussle, especially through the first 20 minutes of action. In that time, the lead changed hands eight times and the score was knotted up on five other occasions.
 
With 1:04 left to go in the opening half, SAU's Jaron Davis buried a three-pointer to take a five-point deficit down to two-points, 35-33. Alternating long range misses followed over the remainder of the half to take the game into the break with the Bisons leading by two.
 
Not long into the second half, Harding's Will Francis canned one of his six three-pointers to push the Bisons back up by five, 38-33. Over the next four minutes of play, however, the Muleriders would go on a 12-0 run to take a seven-point lead, 45-38, with 15:34 left.
 
Harding's Andraz Kavas broke the run at the 13:49 mark on a mid-range jumper, but a quick 5-0 burst over the next 32 seconds by SAU pushed their lead out to 10 points, 50-40, with 12:24 remaining. Just over a minute later, Tyrell Taylor buried a three-pointer to give the Muleriders their largest lead of the game, 12 points, 55-42, with exactly 11 minutes on the game clock.
 
Over the next four minutes of the game, however, Harding would go on a 15-2 run as they reclaimed the lead, 58-57, at the 6:47 mark of the second half after Kavas complete the old-fashioned three-point play. Unfortunately, the Bisons' run did not stop there as Harding extended it to a 20-3 run minutes later to grab another five-point lead, this time with just under five minutes left in regulation.
 
At the 3:27 mark, SAU pulled to within a point, 65-64, as Davis knocked down a trifecta. Harding's Jacob Gibson answered right back on the ensuing possession, however, with a trifecta of his own to put the Bisons back up by four points. That lead would gain another point following the media timeout as Gibson was awarded an and-one opportunity after being fouled on his attempt.
 
With the lead back to five points for Harding, SAU's Alre'k Brown pulled the Muleriders to within two-points, 69-67, with 2:41 to go as he completed an old-fashioned three-point play of his own.
 
Twice more the Muleriders would get to within two points before the end of the game, but the Bisons staved off the Muleriders each time as Harding went a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line to ice the game and bring it to its eventual margin of four points, 75-71, in favor of Harding.
 
Statistically, the Muleriders had a higher field goal percentage and significantly out-rebounded the Bisons, but Harding would hold an advantage over SAU from beyond the arc (42%, 13-of-31 – to – 19%, 5-of-27), at the free throw line (91%, 10-of-11 – to – 71%, 12-of-17), and in turnovers committed (11 – to – 15).
 
Four of SAU's five starters would score in double figures with Alre'k Brown leading the way with 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting overall and 3-of-3 from the free throw line. Behind Brown was DJ Frye with 16 points. Davis was next with 12 points and Kevin Jordan added 11 points. Both Brown and Jordan would record double-doubles as each had 11 boards for the game.
 
The Muleriders will now prepare for their second Oklahoma road swing next week as they travel to Durant, Oklahoma on Thursday night to take on Southeastern Oklahoma and then head over to Bethany, Oklahoma on Saturday afternoon to take on Southern Nazarene. Tip-off for the Southeastern Oklahoma game is set for 7:30 p.m. and Tip-off for the Southern Nazarene contest is scheduled for 1 p.m.