Box Score
Box Score
SEARCY - Harding junior Kevin Brown scored 20 points and junior Stephen Blake added 15 off the bench to lead the Bisons to an 83-54 victory over West Georgia on Saturday at the Rhodes Field House. The victory moved Harding to 4-0 to open a season for the first time since 2002, the season the Bisons went to their first NCAA Division II National Tournament.
Harding played one of its best halves of the season and led by as many as 23 points in the first half. The Bisons outscored the Wolves 24-4 in the paint in the first half and 15-4 off turnovers.
The Bisons led 9-5 with 14:54 left in the first half but went on a 16-3 run over the next seven minutes. West Georgia made only seven field goals and shot just 28 percent before the break. Harding shot 53 percent in the first half and led 41-22 at intermission. It was Harding's largest halftime lead of the young season.
West Georgia (2-3) got as close as 13 points in the second half on a layup by Brett Seljak with 16:50 remaining. Harding then went on a 12-2 run to put the game out of reach. The Bisons led by as many as 37 in the second half.
Brown, a native of Hughes, Ark., shot 7-of-9 from the field which included only the 13th three-pointer of his career. He added six rebounds, four assists, three blocks and two steals.
Harding had eight blocked shots, marking the first time since a 2001 matchup with Southern Arkansas that the Bisons had eight or more rejections in a game.
The game was the first of four Gulf South Conference crossover games for Harding with teams from the GSC East. The second comes Monday at the Rhodes Field House against West Alabama at 7:30 p.m.
Harding, which entered the game with a +10 rebound margin, outrebounded West Georgia 42-34. Junior Matt Ragsdale had a career-high 10 rebounds and redshirt freshman Bradley Spencer added a season-high eight.
The meeting was only the second between the two schools. West Georgia defeated Harding 78-77 in the quarterfinals of the GSC Tournament in 2004 in the previous matchup.
Senior John Pringle was the only West Georgia player in double figures. He scored 10 points on 5-of-10 shooting.
