Henderson State remained unbeaten at home as the Reddies got past Southern Arkansas 78-72, Thursday at the Duke Wells Center in Arkadelphia, Ark.

The Reddies, 11-2 overall and 6-1 in the Great American Conference, extended their winning streak to seven games and improved to 9-0 at the Duke Wells Center.

Kaylon Tappin led the Reddies with 27 points which included some clutch free throw shooting as the junior from Little Rock was 12-of-14 from the charity stripe.

Three other Reddies scored in double-figures including Kevin Kozan with 11 points with Toney Foster and Chris Hawkins scoring 10 points each.

Henderson State took a quick lead as Hawkins scored the first two buckets and Kozan busted back-to-back 3-point field goals to propel the Reddies to a 12-3 advantage just four minutes into the game.

SAU would battle back behind a pair of buckets by CJ Elkins as the Muleriders went on a 9-2 run to make the score 14-12.

Henderson would dominate the next seven minutes outscoring SAU 16-2 behind trifectas by Kozan, Tappin, and Eric Dailey.

The Muleriders were able to get the deficit back to single digits behind the inside play of Denarious Lockhart as he scored 13 points and pulled down 8 rebounds in the first half.

However, the Reddies would hold a 42-33 advantage at the break as Tappin finished the opening 20 minutes with 10 points while Kozan would add another long-range jumper and a pair of free throws to total 11 points in the half.

The Reddies led by double-digits for most of the second-half, but SAU went on a furious run using full court pressure to draw within a single possession with 50 seconds remaining as the Muleriders went on an 11-4 run.

Henderson would hold off the Muleriders by making 5-of-6 free throws down the stretch.

Lockhart would lead SAU in scoring with 24 points while having 14 rebounds.

The Reddies finished the game shooting 46 percent from the field making 25-of-54 attempts. More importantly Henderson made 21-of-28 attempts from the foul line.

Meanwhile, the Muleriders hit 41 percent from field in the half making 27-of-66 field goals.
 
Henderson State will next play host to Arkansas-Monticello on Saturday with tipoff set for 3 p.m. at the Duke Wells Center.