SEARCY, AR - Henderson State got 25 points from Kevin Kozan, 22 from Chris Hawkins and made a huge run in the game's final moments, but Harding held on to defeat the Reddies 87-82 on Thursday night in the Rhodes-Reaves Field House.

Harding got out to a good start on its home court, putting Henderson in a quick 23-9 hole to start the game behind five early 3-pointers. The Reddies slowly fought their way back, though, and used nine points from Kevin Kozan to go on a 21-10 run and trim the deficit to 33-30 with five minutes remaining in the first half. The Bisons answered back however, and ripped off a 12-0 spurt over the last five minutes to stretch the lead out to 45-30 at the break.

Henderson came out in the second half and slowly began to whittle away at the Bisons' lead. With Harding up 57-43 at the 14:38 mark, the Reddies made a run, scoring the next three buckets over the next minute-and-a-half to trim the lead down to 57-49 with 13:12 to go in the game. Harding scored the next four to push the lead back to double digits, but Henderson would not go away, and again trimmed the deficit, this time down to four points, 64-60, with 7:20 left to go. 

After the big Reddies' run, the Bisons responded and stretched the lead back out to 78-67 with a 14-7 spurt over the next four minutes, putting the Reddies in an 11-point hole with 3:31 to play. Henderson refused to go away, and got two backcourt steals that led to a Kaylon Tappin dunk and a Kozan 3-pointer, which cut the lead back to 81-75 with 2:05 remaining. Ben Marello then intercepted a Harding pass down low and found Kozan, who drilled his fifth 3-pointer of the game to bring the Reddies as close as they'd been all game, 81-78, with 1:35 to play. After a defensive stop, Kozan got free on yet another 3-pointer to tie the game, but it rimmed out. Harding's Tim Wagner subsequently ran down the shot clock, got to the basket, was fouled, and converted both free throws to put the Bisons back in front 83-78 with 22 seconds left. Matt Panaggio raced down the court and drew a foul, then converted both shots to bring Henderson back within three, but Harding made their free throws down the stretch and pulled away for an 87-82 victory.

Kozan led Henderson with 25 points, and hit on 5-of-10 shots from 3-point range. Hawkins also had a great game for the Reddies, scoring 22 points on 11-of-14 shooting from the field, and snagging eight rebounds as well. Henderson forced 18 Bisons' turnovers while only committing nine themselves, but Harding hit 14 3-pointers and hit on 58 percent of their looks from beyond the arc on the night. The loss drops the Reddies to 14-11 on the year and 9-10 in the Great American Conference.

The Reddies final home game of the season is on Saturday at 3 p.m. in the Duke Wells Center against Arkansas-Tech.