SEARCY – Harding battled the entire second half to overcome a huge early deficit but came up just short in a 79-74 loss to Southeastern Oklahoma on Saturday at Rhodes Field House.

The loss dropped Harding to 12-10 overall and 10-6 in the Great American Conference. It was the Bisons' first loss in nine GAC home games this season. Southeastern (13-11, 9-7) won for the first time in Searcy since 1999.

"I'm proud of the way we fought and battled in the second half," Harding coach Jeff Morgan said. "We were just way too passive in the first half."

Harding held an early 9-5 lead but missed its next 13 shots, and Southeastern went on a 25-1 run over a nine-minute stretch to take a 30-10 lead with 7:26 left.

Harding climbed back within 13 points late in the half, but Southeastern took a 43-27 lead into the break.

Southeastern shot 69 percent in the first half and outscored Harding 26-12 in the paint.

Harding slowly clawed its way back in the second half and cut the Southeastern lead below 10 for the first time on a Zac Ward layup with 11:30 left that made the score 53-45.

Ward cut Southeastern's lead to three points at 66-63 with a 3-pointer at the 6:16 mark, and Harding trailed by five or fewer the rest of the way.

Another 3-pointer by Ward with 59 seconds left pulled Harding within 74-72, but Southeastern's Tyler Smaller answered with a 3-pointer that pushed the lead back to five with 27 seconds remaining.

Harding's John Hudson made a layup with eight seconds left, and the Bisons stole the in-bounds pass but missed the final 3-pointer to tie. Southeastern's Tyler Lonzie made two free throws with a second left to seal the victory.

Blake McNair led Harding with 19 points, and Andraz Kavas added 16. Will Francis scored 12 points and Ward had 11.

Southeastern only used seven players in the game, and five of them scored 10 or more points. Smaller was tops on the team with 22 points.

Harding will begin a three-game road trip Thursday at Southern Nazarene in Bethany, Oklahoma.