Box Score Box Score
SEARCY – Harding overcame a 10-point second half deficit and scored 20 points in overtime to defeat North Alabama 103-96 Saturday at the Rhodes Field House. The victory gave the Bisons a four-game winning streak overall and a seven-game home streak dating to last season.
Harding (5-1) has won all four meetings in the series with North Alabama. The Lions (2-5) lost their fifth straight overall.
North Alabama led 78-68 with 10 minutes remaining, but Harding battled back and cut the lead to 81-79 on a Matt Hall three-pointer with 2:36 left.
Hall cut it to 83-81 on a baseline jumper with 1:08 left, and Rick Hamilton’s steal and ensuing lay-up tied the game at 83 with 30 seconds remaining.
North Alabama’s Quinn Beckwith missed a three-pointer with 3.1 seconds left. Hamilton then missed a 40-footer at the buzzer.
In the overtime period, Harding opened with three-pointers from Hamilton and Brandon Sims and never trailed again. The Bisons made 12-of-14 free throws in overtime.
Hall led Harding with 30 points, 19 of them coming in the second half and six more in overtime. It was Hall’s seventh career game with 30 points or more. Hamilton added a season-high 21 points, hitting 4-of-5 three-point shots.
North Alabama guard Milton Nance shot a perfect 6-of-6 from three-point range and scored a game-high 32 points. Nance made five three-pointers and had 25 points in the first half. Nance’s performance was even more impressive, considering that Harding opponents had shot only 22 percent from three-point range during the Bisons’ four-game winning streak.
Harding made 10 three-pointers in the first half and finished 16-of-32 from long range, only one off the school record of 17 three-pointers made against Missouri-Rolla last season. Sims led Harding with five 3’s and finished with a season-high 16 points. Cole Kee scored 13 points, 11 coming in the first half.
Nance was one of five Lions to score more than 10 points. Guard Quinn Beckwith had 20 and guard Kenny Johnson added 17. Forward Esmir Guzonjic scored 12 points and added a game-high 19 rebounds. Jerrell Vinson also had 12 points.
North Alabama played only seven players in the game with Beckwith, Nance, and Johnson playing the entire 45 minutes. Harding’s bench outscored the UNA reserves 42-3 and has outscored the opposing substitutes 137-20 in the last three games.
Harding plays the final game of its five-game home stand Tuesday night against Champion Baptist. Tip-off at the Rhodes Field House is at 7:30 p.m.
