SEARCY – Harding scored 11 straight points to end the game and the Bisons defeated Northeastern State 100-89 on Tuesday in non-conference action at the Rhodes Field House.

Harding improved to 2-1 overall and hosts Southwestern Oklahoma on Saturday in its Great American Conference opener. Tipoff at the Rhodes is at 3 p.m.

After leading 52-40 at halftime, Harding pushed its lead to 18 points at 61-43 on Jacob Gibson's two free throws with 17:16 remaining. Northeastern State whittled away at Harding's lead and at one point made six straight shots, including four 3-pointers, to cut the Bison lead to six at 80-74 with 7:38 left.

Trey Mohair's layup at the 4:54 mark completed the Northeastern State comeback, tying the game at 83-83. The game was tied three more times over the next two minutes, the last coming on RiverHawk forward Dakota Caudill's layup with 2:47 left that knotted the game at 89-89.

Northeastern State (1-2) did not score again. Harding made 11 straight free throws down the stretch to pull away, and the RiverHawks missed their final seven shots.

Junior guard Johnthan McGee was a perfect 10-of-10 from the free-throw line and led Harding with 28 points. He shot 7-of-9 from the field and made four 3-pointers.

Andraz Kavas scored 22 points for Harding and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds. He also had five assists and two blocked shots.

Gibson shot 6-of-13 from the field and scored 17 points, and sophomore Will Francis made four 3-pointers and scored 16 points.

Northeastern State took 30 more shots than Harding, in part due to 21 Bison turnovers and 13 offensive rebounds. But Harding did its damage at the free-throw line. The Bisons made 31-of-39 free throws, while the RiverHawks went only 6-of-6 at the foul line.

Harding opened the game by making its first 10 field goal attempts and shot 53.8 percent for the game. The Bisons had a season-high 13 3-pointers and scored 100 points for the first time since defeating Delta State 100-88 in 2010.

Northeastern State had five players score in double figures with senior guard Michael Harmon leading the team with 18 points.

Harding has now won seven of the eight meetings with Northeastern State in Searcy.