SEARCY, Ark. – Trailing by 11 points with 5:29 left in the game, the Southern Arkansas men's basketball team would pull as close as two points on three separate occasions down the stretch, but Harding ultimately staved off the surge and defeated SAU by a score of 89-83 on Thursday night at the Rhodes-Reaves Fieldhouse in Searcy.
 
In the loss, senior forward Alvin Braddock would come off the bench to notch his fourth double-double of the season as he hauled in 10 rebounds and scored a career-high 21 points on 9-of-14 (.643) shooting overall from the floor. Classmate Jaron Davis also came off the bench in the game and was productive on the offensive end as he scored in double figures with 14 points.
 
The 35 combined points from Braddock and Davis helped the Muleriders (13-12, 10-9 GAC) out-score the Bisons (15-9, 14-5 GAC) in bench points, 39-8.
 
Two other Muleriders would score in double figures with starters Deon Andrews and De'Sean Dockery scoring 15 and 12 points, respectively.
 
For the game, the Muleriders would shoot 48% overall as they went 31-of-65 from the floor. Of those made field goals, four would come from beyond the arc as the Muleriders shot 33% from long range.
 
On the other end of the court, the Bisons would shoot 51% overall, going 30-of-59 from the floor with five of those makes coming from distance as the Bisons shot 29% from three-point range. At the charity stripe, both teams would make it to the line at least 29 times, but the Bisons would make seven more tries from the line.
 
The Muleriders will now return home for a pivotal clash with Ouachita on Saturday afternoon. That game, which is scheduled to tip-off at 3 p.m. inside the W.T. Watson Center, will be the first of three-straight home games to close out the regular season for the Muleriders.