SEARCY, Ark. – The Harding men's basketball team will play its first home game in two weeks during the midst of a very busy stretch of games Saturday against Great American Conference foe Southeastern Oklahoma State. Tip-off at the Rhodes Field House will be at 4 p.m., and the game will air live on KVHU-95.3 FM in Searcy and on HardingSports.com.
Harding has played three consecutive road games, winning the first 78-71 against East Central last Thursday in Ada, Okla. The Bisons then lost 85-67 at Southwestern Oklahoma on Saturday and 67-60 at Ouachita Baptist on Thursday. The game against Southeastern Oklahoma will be the second of five games over a 10-day period.
Harding enters the game with a 7-7 overall record and a 2-2 mark in the GAC. The Bisons are currently sixth among the nine teams in conference play.
Sophomore Hayden Johnson led Harding in scoring against Ouachita Baptist on Thursday with 14 points. He connected on 4-of-8 from the field and made two of the Bisons' six 3-pointers. Junior Zach Roddenberry, who entered the game averaging 22.1 points in conference games, got in early foul trouble and scored eight points on 4-of-5 shooting.
Southeastern Oklahoma enters the game with a 5-12 overall record and a 1-4 mark in conference play. The Savage Storm is tied for seventh in the conference standings and has lost five of its last six games, with the lone win coming against Henderson State at home in Jan. 12.
Southeastern Oklahoma, under first-year head coach Kelly Green, is coming off a 79-61 road loss to Arkansas Tech on Thursday. Zac Downing missed all five of his 3-point shots but went 6-for-6 from the free throw line and led the Storm with 14 points. Urald King, the team's leading scorer at 12.8 points per game, had six points and a team-high nine rebounds.
The Savage Storm shot 64 percent in the second half against the Wonder Boys but could not overcome a 19-point halftime deficit.
Harding and Southeastern Oklahoma have played nine times with the Bisons holding a 5-4 lead. The last meeting between the teams came at the St. Mary's Classic in San Antonio, Texas in 2008. Harding won that game 72-64, and won the last meeting in Searcy, 74-58 in 2001.
