BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – Harding men's basketball opens the 2013 Great American Conference Men's Basketball Tournament on Friday at 6 p.m. against Southern Arkansas.

Harding (20-8) is the top seed in the tournament and takes on the No. 8 seed Southern Arkansas for the third time this season. Each of the first two meetings went to overtime, and the Bisons came out on top both times.

It is only the second time Harding has entered a postseason tournament as the top seed. The Bisons were the No. 1 seed from the West Division at the 2008 Gulf South Conference Tournament.

Harding has won three of its last four games and reached the 20-win plateau for the fifth time in program history and the first since the Bisons won 25 in 2010-11.

The Bisons enter the postseason ranked No. 4 in the NCAA Division II Central Region Rankings. The top eight teams from the Central Region advance to the NCAA Division II Tournament. The announcement of the 64-team bracket will come Sunday at 9:30 p.m. on NCAA.com.

Last season, Harding made an early exit from the inaugural GAC Tournament, falling 58-54 to Arkansas-Monticello in the quarterfinals. Zach Roddenberry was a perfect 8-of-8 from the field and 10-of-10 at the free throw line and led Harding with 26 points.

Southern Arkansas enters the game 10-15 overall and 6-14 in conference play. The Muleriders are only 1-11 away from home this season and were 0-10 in conference road games. SAU has lost five of its last six entering the tournament.

The Muleriders are coming off a 78-67 loss to Henderson State on Saturday in Arkadelphia, Ark. Both teams made 10 3-pointers in the game, but Southern Arkansas made only five free throws. Daviel Clements made four 3-pointers and led the Muleriders with 16 points.

One key to the game will be rebounding, where Southern Arkansas leads the GAC with a +6.2 rebound margin, good for 24th in Division II.

The winner of the Harding-Southern Arkansas game will meet the winner of the Southeastern Oklahoma-Ouachita Baptist game on Saturday at 8:30 p.m.