Harding Game Notes
SEARCY – Harding men's basketball opens the Great American Conference portion of its schedule Saturday when it hosts Southern Nazarene at 4 p.m., at the Rhodes Field House.
The game will be the sixth straight at home for the Bisons, while the Crimson Storm will be playing its fourth straight road game.
Harding has opened the season with five consecutive wins for the first time since the 2002-03 season, when the Bisons started 6-0.
Harding is coming off a 65-63 victory over Northeastern State of the MIAA on Thursday in Searcy. Junior Hayden Johnson made 10-of-12 shots, including 5-of-6 3-pointers, and scored a career-high 30 points. With his outstanding shooting effort, Johnson moved into the top spot in the GAC in 3-point field goal percentage at 57.1 percent (8-of-14).
Bison senior Zach Roddenberry scored 12 points and added a team-high nine rebounds against Northeastern State. Roddenberry leads Harding and ranks third in the GAC with 19.6 points per game. He is the conference's top rebounder with 10.0 per game.
Southern Nazarene, a provisional member of the GAC after moving up to Division II from the NAIA, enters the game with a 3-2 overall record and an 0-1 mark in GAC play.
The Crimson Storm lost their conference opener 72-67 to Arkansas Tech in Russellville, Ark. Southern Nazarene led 40-33 at halftime but was outscored 39-27 in the second half. Four Crimson Storm players combined to score 65 of the team's 67 points with guard Ryan Aaron leading the team with 20 points.
Aaron leads the Crimson Storm and ranks second in the conference with 20.6 points per game.
Southern Nazarene will be Harding's second straight opponent to enter a game shooting over 50 percent for the season. The Crimson Storm leads the GAC at 50.2 percent. Northeastern State, Harding's opponent on Thursday, came in shooting 56 percent but shot only 38 percent against the Bisons.
Harding and Southern Nazarene have never met in men's basketball action. The teams will meet again in GAC action Jan. 31 in Bethany, Okla.
