Box Score Box Score
FLORENCE, Ala. – The Harding men's basketball team shot much better in its second game of a three-game road trip and got 20 points from junior Kevin Brown, but the Bisons fell 91-87 to North Alabama on Monday in a Gulf South Conference crossover game. Harding concludes the road trip Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Louisiana-Monroe.
Harding (6-4) shot only 37 percent in its 65-56 loss to Alabama-Huntsville on Saturday, but connected on 48 percent against North Alabama. Unfortunately for the Bisons, the Lions (6-5) shot even better, hitting 55 percent for the game.
Harding senior Trent Morgan opened the game with a three-point field goal. The basket made Morgan the 30th Bison player to reach the 1,000-point barrier in his career. Morgan finished with 12 points and made 3-of-5 three-pointers.
Harding took an 85-84 lead with only 44 seconds remaining in the game on a Kevin Brown layup. North Alabama answered with a layup by Daviel Clements that put the Lions back up by one.
Clements had a game-high 29 points, the most by a Harding opponent this season.
Turnovers on Harding's next two possessions led to a pair of free throws and a layup by Jared Strode that gave North Alabama a 90-85 lead with 11 seconds left. Harding junior Stephen Blake connected on two free throws to cut the lead to three, but with six seconds left, the Bisons were forced to foul. Clements hit the second of two free throws to seal the victory for North Alabama, the Lions' fourth straight over Harding in Florence.
The Lions led 53-38 at halftime thanks to 61 percent shooting from the field coupled with 20 Harding turnovers. The Bisons actually led 29-28 with 7:12 left in the half, but UNA went on a 15-4 run over the half's final four-and-a-half minutes.
Harding scored the first six points of the second half and had erased the halftime deficit completely at the 10:24 mark on three free throws by Matt Garner. The Bisons took their largest lead of the second half at the 6:42 mark when Bradley Spencer hit a free throw to make it 75-71.
UNA scored the next six points and the game was tied three more times down the stretch.
Brown connected on 8-of-10 shots for the Bisons and notched his second 20-point game this season and the sixth time in the last seven games he has scored in double figures.
Junior Matt Ragsdale added a season-high 14 points, his third straight double-digit outing, and had a team-high nine rebounds. Redshirt freshman Bradley Spencer had 12 points, and Matt Garner added 11.
Clements hit 10-of-18 shots and made four of North Alabama's seven three-pointers. Rory Miller added 23 points for the Lions.
