ADA, Okla. — Henderson State erased a nine-point halftime deficit, and withstood a miraculous, game-tying 3-pointer at the end of regulation from East Central, to defeat the Tigers 99-94 in overtime at the Kerr Activities Center.

The victory clinched the first 20-win season for the program since 2006-07 and secured the No. 3 seed for the Reddies at the GAC Tournament next week in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. HSU will face No. 6 seed Arkansas-Monticello at 2:15 p.m. on Friday.

Henderson (20-8, 15-7) trailed 33-24 at the break and by as many as 12 in the second half, but methodically cut into the deficit down the stretch despite red-hot shooting from East Central, who hit 12 of its first 16 shots in the second period. 

Down 69-66 with just over four minutes remaining, HSU used four points from Chris Parker and a huge 3-pointer from Chris Owens to spur a 7-0 run and surge to a 73-69 lead with 1:39 left in regulation. A free throw from Quawn Marshall made it a five-point advantage for Henderson at the 1:15 mark, but ECU would not go away, and used three-straight driving layups to trim the deficit down to 77-76 with 11 seconds to go.

Needing to foul, the Tigers did and sent Anthony Lupardus to the line. Lupardus put the Reddies in the driver's seat with two makes to increase the lead to 79-76, but Henderson chose not to foul in the final seconds up by three points and ECU made them pay, as the Tigers' Zac Neely hit a contested 3-pointer with 0.6 seconds left to send the game to overtime. The basket was Neely's first of the day.

The miracle shot did not phase the Reddies in the extra period. HSU scored the first six points in overtime to take an 85-79 advantage, and after the Tiger's first bucket cut the lead to four, Parker drained his biggest shot of the day — a pull-up 3-pointer from the top of the key — to give Henderson its largest lead, 88-81, with two minutes to play. The shot proved to be the dagger for ECU, who never got within two possessions until the final buzzer.

Parker was tremendous and scored all of his 24 points in the second half and overtime. Marshall finished with career highs in points (19) and rebounds (8) off the bench, while both Lupardus and Raekwon Rogers added 15. After scoring 24 points in the entire first half, HSU scored 20 points on 6-of-8 shooting in the five-minute overtime period.