Box Score Box Score
MONTICELLO, Ark. – Harding senior guard
Stephen Blake scored 21 points and senior forward
Kevin Brown added 20 as the 16th-ranked Bisons earned their 20th victory of the season, 91-71, over Arkansas-Monticello on Thursday at Steelman Field House.
Harding is now 20-3 overall and improved to 10-1 in Gulf South Conference West Division action. The Bisons remain in second place in the GSC West, one game behind Arkansas Tech, which defeated Southern Arkansas 76-66 to move to 11-0 in conference.
The 20th victory was quite a milestone for the Harding team. It last won 20 or more games in 2002-03, the season Harding made its first trip to the NCAA Division II Tournament.
“[20 wins] is a great number,” Harding head coach Jeff Morgan said. “Not many teams get 20 wins these days because the NCAA only allows you to play 26 [regular season] games.”
Harding trailed by as many as seven early in the game and was down 19-18 with 9:51 left. The Bisons then connected on four 3-pointers during a 15-2 run that put Harding ahead 33-21 with 5:52 remaining in the first half.
Arkansas-Monticello (12-11, 4-7) stopped the run on a Ricardo Hall layup, but Harding responded with six unanswered points and led 43-27 at halftime.
“We had some guys make some unselfish passes during the run,” Morgan said. “We made the extra pass from an open man to someone even more open. But all that started with us getting some stops on defense.”
Harding shot 59 percent in the first half, and continued to shoot well after halftime. The Bisons made 56 percent in the second half, including 4-of-6 from 3-point range. Harding made 10-of-18 3-pointers total, the third time in the last four games the Bisons have made 10 or more 3-pointers.
Despite Harding's outstanding shooting, Arkansas-Monticello trimmed Harding's lead down to 10 points, 67-57, with 8:49 left on a Sergio Crowe 3-pointer. An 8-3 Bison run, capped off by Bradley Spencer's 3-point shot, gave the Bisons a 16-point margin with 7:10 left. Harding led by at least 13 points the rest of the way.
Blake, who has earned GSC West Division Player of the Week honors the last two weeks, made 6-of-13 from the field, including both of his 3-point attempts, and hit 7-of-8 free throws. Kevin Brown made 8-of-9 from the field, and Spencer connected on 5-of-6 and scored 17 points. Kirk Porter had 12 points, and Hayden Johnson scored 11 off the bench.
Hall led Arkansas-Monticello with 20 points, and Crowe had 18.
Arkansas-Monticello shot 46 percent from the field, but only 6-of-21 (29 percent) from 3-point range.
Harding made 27-of-32 free throws, while UAM shot just 11-of-18.
Harding has won five straight heading into Saturday's home game against Christian Brothers. It will be the fourth game in seven days for both teams. Tip-off at the Rhodes Field House will be at 7:30 p.m.
