SEARCY – The Harding men's basketball team hopes to turn Black Friday into Black-and-Gold Friday and carry it on into Saturday as they play in the Pak-A-Sak Thanksgiving Classic this weekend in Canyon, Texas.
The Bisons will take on host West Texas A&M on Friday at 7 p.m. and clash with Eastern New Mexico on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. The two games are Harding's first away from the Rhodes Field House this season.
The weekend will be a homecoming of sorts for Harding head coach Jeff Morgan, who played at West Texas A&M from 1986-88 and went 17-10 as the head coach at the school for the 1992-93 season. Morgan began his Harding career the following season.
Morgan's squad enters the weekend 3-1 overall and is coming off a 64-52 victory over Southwestern Oklahoma in its Great American Conference opener. Junior Andraz Kavas, who leads the team with 17.8 points per game, scored 17 to pace the Bisons in a game they led from the 15:10 mark of the first half on.
Harding has shot the ball well in the first four games, hitting 49 percent from the field, 39 percent from 3-point range, and 75 percent from the free-throw line. The free-throw line has been especially kind to the Bisons. Harding has outscored its opponents 66-35 on free throws.
The Bisons have three more players averaging more than 10 points. Junior Jacob Gibson has seven 3-pointers and is shooting 54 percent while averaging 13.0 points. Newcomer Johnthan McGee averages 12.3 points and is Harding's top free-throw shooter at 85.7 percent (18-of-21). Junior Blake McNair leads the GAC in 3-point field goal percentage at 68.8 percent (11-of-16) and averages 12.0 points.
West Texas A&M, a Lone Star Conference school under first-year head coach Tom Brown, enters the weekend 1-3 overall. The Buffaloes snapped a three-game season-opening losing streak with an 82-66 home victory over Colorado State-Pueblo on Saturday.
West Texas A&M is averaging 85.5 points but has allowed 89.0 points in the first four games. The Buffaloes have had six players foul out of games and have been outscored 102-63 at the free-throw line.
Tez Dumars, a senior guard from Dallas, averages 20.5 points and has made 27 of the team's 63 free throws.
Eastern New Mexico is 3-2 overall and also coming off a victory. The Greyhounds, also Lone Star Conference members, defeated Western New Mexico 94-87 on Saturday.
Eastern New Mexico has had four different players lead the team in scoring in its first five games. Michael Randle, a senior guard from Houston, averages a team-high 15.0 points. The Greyhounds have made 18 more 3-pointers than their opponents but have been outscored 123-90 at the foul line.
Harding will be looking for its first victory against West Texas A&M. The Buffaloes have won each of the first four meetings. The last matchup came at the 2007 Buffalo Thanksgiving Classic in Canyon. West Texas A&M won 86-80.
Eastern New Mexico has won both previous meetings with Harding. The Greyhounds won 65-52 in Portales, New Mexico, in 1997 and 68-62 in Searcy in 1999.
