ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — On a night with wild momentum swings, Henderson State put together the two biggest runs of the game — one at the end of the first half and one at the end of the second — to fend off Southwestern Oklahoma State 84-73 at the Duke Wells Center.

The win improved Henderson to 18-7 overall and 13-6 in Great American Conference play. HSU is just one game back of first-place in the league standings with three conference games remaining in the regular season.

The Reddies found themselves in a deep hole early for the second-straight game after SWOSU hit nine of its first 18 shots and raced out to a stunning 25-9 lead through the first 10 minutes of play.

Trailing by 16 in the blink of an eye, Henderson's response was swift, as it clamped down defensively and knocked in 10 of its next 15 looks from the floor to out-score the Bulldogs 32-8 in the final 10 minutes of the half and take an improbable 41-33 lead into the break. Southwestern Oklahoma was just 2-for-13 from the field during the 24-point swing.

Despite surrendering the lead, SWOSU was not floored by the Reddies' big run. After scoring just eight points in the last 10 minutes of the first half, the Bulldogs came out with a flurry and poured in nine in the first 90 seconds of the second to quickly trim the deficit down to 43-42 at the 18:30 mark.

The remainder of the half was a battle, as the score was tied seven different times and the lead changed hands on five occasions. With the game knotted at 66-66 and five minutes remaining, Henderson put together its second momentum-swinging run and this one proved to be the difference-maker.

After a timeout, the Reddies took their first lead since the 12-minute mark of the half, 68-66, on a jumper from Chris Owens, and on the ensuing trip down Chris Parker drained a deep 3-pointer to increase the lead out to 71-66. A SWOSU turnover on its next possession kept things rolling for HSU, as Owens found Mike Fofana on a looping pass inside to help the advantage balloon out to 73-66 in a span of two minutes. The quick 7-0 spurt was the start of an 18-7 run to close the game for Henderson which helped the Reddies pull away for their 12th home victory.

Parker played one of his best games of the year for HSU and finished with a season-high 26 points on 9-of-13 shooting. Raekwon Rogers and Fofana each had double-doubles, as Rogers turned in 19 points and 10 boards while Fofana had 17 points and 13 rebounds. Owens was the final Reddie in double figures with 15 points in 24 minutes off of the bench.

Henderson will play its final game of the year in the Duke Wells Center on Saturday when it faces Northwestern Oklahoma State at 3 p.m. on Senior Day.