ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — A dominant first half set the tone for Henderson State on Monday night, as the Reddies rolled past No. 6 seed Harding for the third time this season 96-76 in its GAC Tournament opener at the Duke Wells Center.
With the win, No. 3 seed HSU advances to the GAC Tournament quarterfinals on Wednesday where it will face the Western Division No. 2 seed Southern Nazarene at 7:30 p.m. in Bethany, Oklahoma.
Five players were in double figures on Monday for Henderson. Xavier Davenport, Damian Dear and Malik Riddle all scored 14 points, while Jeremiah Toney and Yuri Swinford each had 12. Quawn Marshall finished with nine points and nine assists.
It was a dream start for the Reddies in their tournament opener. HSU hit five of its first nine shots from the floor and got nine early points from Riddle to seize a 17-5 lead at the 14:44 mark. Harding did its best to fight back into it and put together a 14-5 run to cut the deficit to 22-19 with 11:18 remaining in the half.
With Henderson up 33-27 and 5:48 to go until the break, Henderson threw another haymaker at the Bisons. The Reddies got eight late points from Dear, as well as six from Toney, to fuel a massive 18-4 run over the remainder of the period and extend their advantage to 51-31 at the half.
Harding was just 1-of-9 from the floor in the final five minutes of the period, while HSU was 6-for-8 with both misses coming at the halftime buzzer.
The Reddies run continued to begin the second, as HSU scored the first five points to stretch its lead out to 56-31. Trailing by 25, the Bisons scrapped and used a 12-4 spurt to cut their deficit to 60-43 with 15 minutes to go. That margin would be as close as Harding would come, however, as Henderson's defense locked down and allowed the Bisons just 10 points over the next eight minutes of play.
HSU took advantage on the other end and out-scored HU 21-10 during that period of time to take its largest lead of the game, 81-53, with 7:25 remaining. The result was never in doubt from that point on, as the Reddies cruised to a win and the GAC quarterfinals.
Henderson shot 51% from the floor on the night and out-scored Harding 50-34 in the paint. The Reddies forced 20 Bisons' turnovers and committed just 10 in the victory.
Wednesday night's contest against Southern Nazarene will be HSU's first matchup of the year with any GAC Western Division team. The Reddies' last contest that was played in the state of Oklahoma was the 2020 GAC Tournament championship game in Bartlesville.
