MAGNOLIA, Ark. - Season highs from Tomislav Miholjcic (14) and Malek Davis (17) were not enough as Henderson State fell late to Southern Arkansas in Magnolia Thursday night, 67-66. The Reddies held a 14-point lead at halftime, but the Muleriders shot 51.7 percent (15-of-29) from the floor in the second half to spur on the comeback victory.

Miholjcic's season-high went with his second straight double-double as he added 11 rebounds. Four Reddies scored in double figures with Clarence King and Zyon Patterson scoring 12 and 10, respectively. 

Henderson State's defense was suffocating in front of a rowdy Mulerider home crowd in the opening 20 minutes, forcing 10 SAU turnovers in that time to go with an offensive effort that saw the Reddies shoot 46.9 percent (15-of-32) from the floor. Neither team's offense was clicking either on, with the game's first points not coming until the 17:46 mark.

After the two sides stood at a deadlock, 9-9, it was all HSU in the final 10 minutes of the opening period. A 12-2 run from the visitors opened a double-digit lead before three-pointers from King and Davis within moments of each other allowed HSU to take a 14-point advantage into the locker room, 37-23.

Henderson held the same margin five and a half minutes into second-half action and was maintained until the under-12 media with the tally reading 51-37 in favor of HSU. A break in the scoring for the red-and-gray, however, resulted in six straight from Southern Arkansas as the Reddies' lead was cut to eight - the closest the count had been since the 7:24 mark in the first half - with just under 10 minutes remaining, 51-43. 

That scoring drought continued until Davis was sent to the free-throw line with 7:41 on the clock, putting to rest a six-minute scoring hiatus for Henderson. Davis continued his attempt to single handedly lift HSU out of its scoring woes, using back-to-back three-pointers to score six of Henderson's next eight points for a 61-55 lead.

The momentary setback for Southern Arkansas was quickly erased by its hot second-half shooting. With HSU sporting a two-point lead with under a minute remaining, an SAU block with 20 seconds in regulation was met with a Mulerider and-1 on the other end to give the home team its first lead since the 12:24 mark of the first half.

Another Mulerider block at the buzzer sent off the celebration for the blue-and-yellow as Henderson fell in the conference opener, 67-66. The Reddies (1-3, 0-1) will move their attention to Arkansas-Monticello when the Boll Weevils come to the Duke Wells Center Saturday, Dec. 2 at 3 p.m.