WEATHERFORD, Okla. – In a game that featured seven ties and 13 lead changes, Henderson St. pulled out the back-and-forth battle against Southwestern Oklahoma State, 82-76. The win marks HSU's first victory away from the Duke Wells Center since January 5 earlier this year.
 
Henderson's offense shot 52.6 percent (30-57) from the field while holding Southwestern to 41.4 percent (29-70) from the field and 21.2 percent (7-33) from three. The Reddies outscored SWOSU in the paint, 40-30.
 
Alvin Miles scored a season-high 22 points on 7-of-11 field-goals while hitting all eight of his free-throws to go with five assists and five steals, which is the most steals of any HSU player this season. Tomislav Miholjcic posted his first double-double in five games, tallying 19 points and 11 rebounds, seven of which came on the offensive glass.
 
After Southwestern scored the first four points of the game, the first 12 minutes of action saw six lead changes before play stood at 15-15 with 7:48 remaining in the opening half. From there, SWOSU opened up the largest lead of the game up to that point on either side after going on an 8-2 run for a 23-17 advantage.
 
The Reddies continued to remain right in step with the Bulldogs, tying it back up at 25-25 with three and a half minutes to go until the break. Henderson pulled ahead slightly thanks to Alvin Miles scoring his eighth point of the first 20 minutes with 26 seconds left that put HSU in front before the teams went into the locker room, 32-31.
 
Malik Riddle scored the first four points of the second half for Henderson before the Bulldog home crowd, after a big three-pointer and alley-oop, spurred the home team on to a 42-36 lead four minutes into the second-half action. As had been the theme of the first half, neither team refused to go away with HSU retaking the lead at 46-43 three and a half minutes later with a 10-1 run.
 
Two more lead changes presented itself before a Miholjcic layup put HSU ahead for what would be the final time with 9:02 remaining in regulation, 55-53. The Bulldogs cut the red-and-gray's lead to one before six unanswered, punctuated with a Ryan Boyce dunk, opened a seven-point advantage just before the under-four media timeout for the Reddies, 66-59.
 
Southwestern was able to offer one last shot at retaking the lead, getting within three before Miles and Miholjcic combined to score 12 of Henderson's final 14 points, building the biggest lead of the game at 78-68 before leaving Weatherford with the 82-76 victory.
 
Henderson St. (9-13, 6-10) will look for a 2-0 stand on its final road trip within the Sooner State of the regular season when it heads to Alva, Oklahoma for the second meeting with Northwestern Oklahoma State Saturday, Feb. 11 at 3 p.m.