SEARCY – The 17th-ranked Harding men's basketball team hopes that it doesn't need a big second-half comeback Monday night when it takes on Southern Arkansas at the Rhodes Field House.
But if the Bisons do have to come from behind, their last two games have shown that they can.
Harding completed its second straight improbable comeback Saturday night in a 78-73 victory over Delta State in Cleveland, Miss. The Bisons trailed by as many as 18 points and faced a 13-point halftime deficit, its largest of the season, but shot 62 percent in the second half and made eight 3-pointers to complete the comeback.
That victory came on the heels of an 89-82 victory at Ouachita Baptist in which Harding trailed by nine at halftime.
Batting cleaup for the Bisons during these rallies has been senior guard Stephen Blake, whose 3-point shooting is reaching unprecedented levels. He has scored 51 points in the last two second halves. Blake has made 12-of-15 from 3-point range during the two periods and is shooting almost 60 percent from long range for the season.
Besides being an outstanding shooter, Blake has a knack for getting himself open. Members of the Delta State band were closer to Blake on some of the 3-point attempts than any members of the Statesmen team.
Harding enters the Southern Arkansas game with an 8-1 Gulf South Conference West Division mark, just one game behind leaders Arkansas Tech.
The Muleriders are 9-12 overall but only 1-8 in conference play. Southern Arkansas has lost five straight but three of the losses have come by fewer than five points. On Saturday night, the Muleriders lost 83-80 to Ouachita Baptist in double overtime.
SAU's signature win this season was a 49-46 victory at Alabama-Huntsville, the top team in the NCAA Division II South Region and the nation's fourth-ranked team.
Harding won the first meeting of the season between the two teams 72-58 in Magnolia, but that game required a sizable comeback as well. The Bisons trailed by as many as 10 in the first half, but shot 58 percent and made seven 3-pointers in the second half and held a 17-point lead at one stage.
Blake was the catalyst for that comeback as well. He made a career-high seven 3-pointers and led the team with 25 points.
Monday's game is the second of four games in one week for the Bisons. The game was originally scheduled for last Thursday, but had to be rescheduled because of snowy conditions in Searcy.
