Brad Nairn scored 24 points while Kaylon Tappin added 23 to lead Henderson State to a 93-80 win over Minnesota State-Moorhead, Friday in Lancaster, Texas at the GAC/NSIC Challenge.

Henderson State, 1-0 on the season, used 63 percent shooting from the field in the second-half including five 3-point field goals to pull away from the Dragons.

Henderson jumped out to a 12-5 lead to begin the game behind a 3-point field goal and jumper by Nairn along with a pair of layups by Tappin.

MSUM, however, went on a 14-0 run to take a 19-12 lead with 11:33 left in the half as the Reddies missed their next seven shots and committed a pair of turnovers.
Josh Jones jump-started the Reddies with back-to-back treys and then Chris Parker came off the bench to hit a long-range jumper to tie the score at 21-21 with just under 10 minutes left in the half.

Henderson would later take a 35-28 lead at the 4-minute media timeout as Tappin scored six of his first-half 10 points while the Reddie defense forced five Dragon turnovers in a five minute stretch.

MSU-Moorhead was able to finish the half outscoring the Reddies 9-2 to tie the score at 37-37 at the break.

The game changed leads four times in the first six minutes of the second half before Parker hit one of his three 3-point field goals at the 14:51 mark to put the Reddies on top for good.

The Reddies took total control of the game with their unselfish offense and solid defense as Henderson pushed its lead to 13 points with 4:10 remaining following Jones' fifth 3-pointer of the game.

MSUM could not overcome Henderson's uptempo style of play as the Reddies scored 14 points in the paint in the final four minutes including some powerful dunks by Nairn.
Henderson finished the game shooting 51 percent from the field knocking down 37-of-73 attempts. The Reddies only went to the foul line 11 times but made the freebies count making 9 for 82 percent.

Jones finished the game with 19 points including going a perfect 5-for-5 from beyond the arc, while Chris Parker finished with 15 points along with five assists.

Three Reddies pulled down seven rebounds each including Jones, Nairn and Matt Panaggio.

Henderson moved the ball around the entire game as the Reddies totaled 19 assists. Aside Parker, Tappin had four dishes while Panaggio had three.

The Reddies will next take on Minot State on Saturday with tipoff set for 2 p.m. in Lancaster, Texas.