Box Score
SEARCY – Senior forward Matt Hall scored 13 of his team-leading 24 points in the second half to help the Harding Bisons defeat the Ouachita Baptist Tigers 62-57 in the Rhodes Field House on Saturday night.
Harding (9-7) has opened the season 3-0 in Gulf South Conference play for the second time since joining the conference in 2000. The Bisons won their first four GSC games in 2003. Ouachita Baptist (8-6, 1-2) have lost three consecutive games in Searcy meetings against Harding.
Ouachita Baptist opened a 19-11 lead when Daniel Maddox hit a three pointer with 11:09 remaining in the first half. The Bisons slowly rallied back as Hall scored a three pointer to close Ouachita Baptist's lead to 27-26 with 3:10 left in the half.
Harding senior Chris Dixon scored on a jumper with 44 seconds remaining, but the Tigers held onto a 32-30 halftime lead.
Hall tied the game 32-32 on a jumper to open the second half, and sophomore Steven Barnett scored a fast break layup off a steal to give the Bisons the lead on the next possession.
Harding led for nearly the entire second half. Ouachita Baptist briefly tied the game 49-49 on an offensive rebound and layup by Antonio Benjamin with 5:26 remaining, but sophomore Trent Morgan hit a three pointer as Harding pulled back ahead.
Memo Rodriguez, Ouachita Baptist's scoring leader, had two three pointers and 10 points in the first half. Rodriguez did not score in the second half, however, and fouled out with less than a minute remaining.
Hall passed Rolando Garcia (1986-91) for third place on Harding's all-time career scoring list when he scored on a jumper five minutes into the game.
Senior Chris Dixon scored 14 points for Harding, and Morgan, who made 3-of-3 three pointers, finished with 13 points.
Ouachita Baptist came in leading the GSC in three-point field goal defense, holding opponents to 26.1 percent shooting, but Harding was 8-of-16 from three-point range on Saturday, tying Texas A&M for the most three pointers allowed by the Tigers this season.
Benjamin led the Tigers with 18 points, and Maddox added 16 points. Ed Keyes collected 10 rebounds for Ouachita Baptist.
Harding will play again on Thursday when it hosts Arkansas Tech at 7:30 p.m. in the Rhodes Field House.
