DALLAS — Henderson State got 20 points off the bench from Damian Dear and erased a 14-point second half-deficit to stun Dallas Baptist 78-75 on the road Monday.

Dear was phenomenal for HSU and scored 15 of his 20 points in the second half. Yuri Swinford chipped in a season-high 17 points while Xavier Davenport finished with 11.

It was a tale of two halves for the Reddies (7-3, 3-1) on the road. Henderson, who shot 48.1% in the first 20 minutes, was within striking distance for most of the period, but with Dallas Baptist up 24-21, the Patriots used four late 3-pointers to close the half on an 18-8 run. The big spurt in the final six minutes gave DBU its largest lead, 42-29, at the break.

Another 3-pointer in the opening moments of the second half increased the Patriot lead out to 45-31 at the 18:27 mark, but Henderson refused to go away. The Reddies responded to their largest deficit of the afternoon by scoring the next nine points, five of which came from Dear, to swiftly close the gap to 45-40 with 15:27 to go.

In what became a game of runs, DBU showed it was up to the task and answered the HSU spurt with one of its own. The Patriots, after letting the lead slip to just five, scored eight of the next 10 points with an 8-2 stretch that reestablished their double digit lead, 53-42, at the 13:18 mark.

The Dallas Baptist run kept the Reddies at bay briefly, but Henderson continued to claw its way back into the game. Down by 11, HSU began to attack the basket and was rewarded with four trips to the line in the next three minutes. Swinford, Alvin Miles and Malik Riddle combined to make 7-of-8, which paired with stingy defense on the other end, sparked a 12-2 run and brought the Reddies within 55-54 — the closest the game had been since the opening tip.

Two-straight buckets from DBU allowed the Patriots to maintain the lead and momentarily held the Reddies at arms length, 60-54, with 8:06 remaining. Henderson continued to chip away, however, and the dam finally broke in the form of Davenport. With HSU down 66-62, the senior from Brooklyn scored six-straight points on a 3-pointer and a three-point play to surge the Reddies in front, 69-68, with 3:05 left.

The Patriots briefly regained the lead with a layup on its next possession, but Davenport's heroics were not finished for Henderson. With the Reddies once again trailing 70-69, Davenport came up with another three-point-play when he finished at the rim and was fouled. His free throw put HSU up 72-70 with 2:30 remaining and gave him nine-straight points.

Dallas Baptist refused to go quietly on its home floor and tied the game on two separate occasions in the last two minutes. With the game deadlocked at 74-74, Dear went to the rim and was fouled with 26 seconds on the clock. The senior, who came into the afternoon averaging just under three points per game, calmly hit both shots and put the Reddies back in front, 76-74.

Free throws continued to play a big role on the other end, as DBU was unable to capitalize on a trip to the line that could have tied the game. After the Patriots went 1-for-2 on a pair, Dear was once again fouled with 15 seconds left. His second trip to the stripe in as many possessions was identical to the first, as he drilled both shots to push the Henderson lead out to 78-75. 

Dallas Baptist got one final look at a 3-pointer to tie the game in the final seconds, but after hitting 12 on the afternoon, a 13th was not to be, as the shot missed and clinched a massive comeback victory for the Reddies on the road. 

Henderson out-scored the Patriots 49-33 in the second half. HSU held DBU to 29.6% shooting in the final 20 minutes and shot 57.9% on the other end of the floor. The Reddies led for less than four total minutes in the win.

HSU returns to action on Dec. 30 when it hosts Oklahoma Baptist at 7:30 p.m.