SEARCY – Junior forward Andraz Kavas scored 31 points and junior Jacob Gibson added 23 to lead Harding to a 86-70 Great American Conference victory over Arkansas-Monticello before a near-capacity crowd of 2,657 at the Rhodes Field House.

Harding (9-8, 7-4) won its eighth straight at home, including all four on its just-concluded home stand. With their undefeated home stand, the Bisons climbed to within one game of the leaders in the GAC. Ouachita Baptist, East Central and Southern Arkansas are tied for the conference lead with 8-3 records.

Arkansas-Monticello (5-10, 2-9) lost its fourth straight and has the fewest wins of any GAC team.

Harding led 23-18 with 10:09 left in the first half, but Arkansas-Monticello went for a stretch of 10 minutes that spanned the last nine minutes of the first half and first minute of the second half where the Boll Weevils missed 13 of their 14 shots.

Harding built its lead to as many as 18 points during the Boll Weevils drought and led 42-26 at halftime.

Kavas scored 15 of his points in the first half, and Gibson was 5-of-6 from the field and had 12 at the break. Harding shot 50 percent from the field in the first half and led 42-26 at halftime. Arkansas-Monticello shot only 29 percent in the first half, including 1-of-9 from 3-point range.

The Bisons extended the lead to as many as 28 points in the second half, shooting 62 percent and hitting five more 3-pointers.

Kavas was 9-of-14 from the floor and 11-of-16 at the free-throw line and scored more than 30 points for the second time this season. Gibson made all seven of his shots inside the arc and went 3-of-8 from 3-point range.

Will Francis and John Hudson also had 11 points each for Harding.

Richard Benedyth led Arkansas-Monticello with 16 points, and Jamal Peterson had 15.