The Henderson State men's basketball season came away with a thrilling 77-76 victory over Southern Arkansas at the Duke Wells Center on Saturday afternoon in a Great American Conference matchup.

With just three seconds remaining, Aaron Cooper drove inside and connected on a runner from the left block that gave HSU its only lead in the last 10 minutes of the second half, and the victory.

After trailing 41-38 at half, the Reddies were down by as much as nine points before mounting a comeback beginning at the 6:56 mark, when Kelvin Dixon cut through the lane and knocked in a layup off an assist from Micah Walker.

Two minutes later, a Walker layup cut the SAU lead to three with 4:18 remaining.

After the teams traded buckets down the stretch, SAU held a 76-75 lead with 46 seconds left to play, but after a Dixon steal, the Reddies held for the last shot, which led to Cooper's layup.

Dixon led the way in the scoring column for HSU with 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field, while Reggie Murphy continued his stellar play in the last few games, having a double-double with 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting and 10 boards.

Rashad Perkins also contributed 14 points for the Reddies while also pulling down five rebounds.

HSU shot 33-of-68 from the field for a 49 percent shooting average, while limiting SAU to 28-of-62 for 45 percent.

SAU, 15-11 overall and 11-9 in the GAC, was led by DJ Frye with 16 points, while Jaron Davis contributed 12.

The Muleriders barely edged out the Reddies in the rebounding category 38-35, but HSU dished out 12 assists to just eight for SAU.

Henderson State committed only six turnovers on the day, while forcing 13 from the Muleriders.

With the win, HSU finished the season with an 11-15 overall record and an 8-12 mark in Great American Conference play.