ALVA, OK. - Henderson State got 22 points from
Kevin Kozan, a stat-stuffing game from
Matt Panaggio and 47 bench points to defeat Northwestern Oklahoma State 87-79 on Thursday night in the Percefull Fieldhouse and clinch its spot in the Great American Conference Tournament.
The Rangers jumped out to the early lead on their home court, as senior Adrian Motley scored 16 of their first 23 points in route to NWOSU seizing a 28-18 lead with 6:38 to go in the first half. The Reddies responded before halftime though, and used 3-pointers from Kozan and
DJ Franklin to go on a 14-5 run over the next four minutes to cut the deficit to 33-32 before ultimately trailing at the break 40-37.
The second half proved to be a battle, as Henderson quickly trimmed the lead and made it a back-and-forth affair over the first 10 minutes of the period. With NWOSU leading 58-57 at the 10:56 mark, the Reddies snagged their first lead on two free throws from
Chris Hawkins, which fueled an 8-2 run that gave HSU its largest lead of the game to that point, 66-60. The Reddies continued to stretch the lead and got it out to 72-63 with 4:56 remaining behind six-consecutive free throws from Hawkins, Franklin and Panaggio. The Rangers, however, would not go away, and used a gradual 16-10 run over the next four minutes to trim the Henderson lead down to just 82-79 with 39 seconds to go. Henderson would not be denied, though, as Kozan broke through the full court press on the next play for an insurance layup and then made two free throws down the stretch to seal the 87-79 win, and the GAC Tournament birth, for the Reddies.
Kozan recorded his third-straight 20-point game for Henderson with 22 to lead the team, while Panaggio made his impact felt everywhere for the Reddies with 13 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and three steals. Franklin and fellow freshman
Kyle Murphy also had strong games for HSU, as Franklin scored 14 and Murphy hit four 3-pointers in route to a career-high 12 points. The bench came up huge for the Reddies with 47 points and as a team, Henderson hit 32-of-39 from the free throw line and 9-of-20 from the 3-point line in the win.
The victory clinches the first GAC Tournament berth for Henderson since the 2013-14 season when they went to the championship game and also clinches the first winning season for HSU since 2012-13.
The Reddies' final regular season game is on Saturday at 2 p.m. against Southwestern Oklahoma State in Weatherford, Oklahoma.
