SHAWNEE, Okla. – There was not much between Harding and Oklahoma Baptist in two meetings this season.
Oklahoma Baptist pulled out a two-point win in Searcy in January and held on for a 93-87 win over Harding on Saturday in Great American Conference action at the Noble Complex.
The loss dropped Harding to 5-18 overall and 1-16 in conference. Oklahoma Baptist snapped four-game home losing streak and posted its highest point total of the season to improve to 12-11 overall and 9-8 in conference.
Harding trailed by double figures several times in the game, but redshirt freshman Keyln McBride hit his fifth 3-pointer of the game with 2:03 left to cut Oklahoma Baptist's lead to 86-84.
After a timeout, Oklahoma Baptist got a traditional three-point play on a dunk to push the lead back out to five. McBride answered with his sixth 3 of the game with 47 seconds left.
Oklahoma Baptist missed a shot late in the shot clock but got the offensive rebound, and Harding was forced to foul. Oklahoma Baptist hit four free throws down the stretch to hold Harding off.
McBride scored a season- and career-high 24 points. He shot 9-of-14 overall and 6-of-10 from 3-point range.
Taylor Currie also scored 24 points, his 16th game this season with 20 or more. He moved to 32nd in career scoring at Harding with 1,038 points, passing Carlton Bryant, Mike Lamb, Bradley Spencer and Blake McNair on Harding's career scoring list.
Currie has now scored in double figures in 48 of 51 career games and has 25 20-point games.
A 12-0 run by Oklahoma Baptist left Harding trailing 30-15 with 10:04 left. The Bisons closed the half on an 11-2 stretch and trailed only 43-37 at the break.
McBride scored 15 points in the first half, connecting on 6-of-8 shots, including 3-of-5 from 3-point range. Oklahoma Baptist did much of its damage inside, outscoring Harding 26-18 in the paint.
Oklahoma Baptist led by 11 with 7:47 left in the game, its largest advantage in the second half.
Harding returns to the Rhodes-Reaves Field House on Monday to host Arkansas Tech. Tip-off is at 7:30 p.m.
