SEARCY, Ark. — Henderson State had four players in double figures on Saturday evening and used lockdown defense to defeat Harding 71-46 at the Rhodes-Reaves Fieldhouse.

Raekwon Rogers had 14 points and six rebounds to lead HSU, while Damian Dear had 13 in 18 minutes of action. Yuri Swinford scored 11 points in his first start for the Reddies, as did Malik Riddle, and Drake Wilks added a season-best eight points and a team-high nine boards off of the bench.

It was a tale of two halves for Henderson on Saturday. Both teams had difficulties offensively in the opening half, as each side shot just 32% from the floor in the first 20 minutes.

With Harding leading 16-15 at the 6:50 mark of the period, HSU put together its first big run of the game, and used six points from Quawn Marshall to spur a 12-2 run. The big spurt gave the Reddies their largest lead of the game, 27-18, at the break. 

The Reddies hit their last four shots after starting 9-for-37 from the floor. Harding did not make a field goal in the last 6:50 of the opening half and only took 19 shots due to a staggering 17 turnovers. 

The hot finish to the period did wonders for Henderson, who opened the second half on a 10-4 spurt to stretch its lead to 37-22 at the 14:21 mark. Harding trimmed the deficit down a basket to 44-31 with 11:40 to go, but free throws from Xavier Davenport and a deep 3-pointer from Wilks gave the Reddies their largest lead to that point, 49-31, with 10:26 left.

It was a runaway from there for Henderson and the Bisons never again got within 15 points of the lead. Up 55-40 with 7:21 remaining in the game, HSU threw one final haymaker, and ended the contest on a 16-6 run to win it in style in Searcy. 

After shooting just 32% from the floor in the first half, the Reddies were a scorching 16-of-27 (59.3%) from the field in the second. Harding shot just 35% for the game and turned the ball over 25 times. HSU dominated the Bisons in points off turnovers (24-9), second chance points (18-0) and points in the paint (44-20). 

Henderson returns to action on Thursday when it takes on Southern Arkansas at 7:30 p.m. in Magnolia.