BETHANY, Okla. – Southern Nazarene hit nine 3-pointers in the first half and never trailed in a 96-90 victory over Harding on Thursday in Great American Conference play at the Sawyer Center.

The game was the first of three straight on the road for Harding, who plays Saturday at East Central in Ada, Oklahoma. The Bisons dropped to 12-11 overall and 10-7 in conference action. Harding, who has already clinched a spot in the GAC Tournament, ends the night in third place in the conference standings.

Southern Nazarene (13-11, 9-9) was coming off a loss to Arkansas Tech on Saturday in a game in which they trailed by as many as 28 points. The Crimson Storm has won six straight conference home games.

CJ Rodriguez and Garrett Butler both made four 3-pointers in the first half, and the Crimson Storm led 47-27 at halftime. Harding cut the lead to 10 points, 62-52, on an Andraz Kavas layup with 10:38 left. The Bisons continued to battle back, and Blake McNair hit two late 3-pointers, the second pulling Harding within four points with just under four seconds remaining.

"That's two games in a row we've had horrible starts, so something's got to change," Harding head coach Jeff Morgan said. "The first half they just punched us in the mouth. They were very physical and played very hard."

The Bisons scored 63 points in the second half, shooting 62 percent from the field and hitting 9-of-17 3-pointers.

"We played a lot harder in the second half," Morgan said. "We were more physical and got some things done."

Kavas led Harding with 28 points and 10 rebounds. He scored 21 points in the second half for his 13th 20-point game of the season. Will Francis scored Harding's first nine points and scored 22 points. McNair scored 14 points, and Reggie Anthony tied his season-high with 10 points.

Southern Nazarene had six players with 10 or more points and was led Rodriguez with 27.

Harding had 12 3-pointers marking the 16th time this season the Bisons have made 10 or more in a game.