ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — An eight-point halftime advantage could not hold up on Saturday for Henderson State as Southwestern Oklahoma State used a big second half surge to power past the Reddies 84-78 at the Duke Wells Center.

Clarence King led the Reddies in defeat by scoring 23 points on 7-of-9 shooting. Zyon Patterson added 18 points while Tim McDonald had 14 and Tomislav Miholjcic finished with 13 and nine rebounds.

Henderson got off to a strong start and used five first half 3-pointers to open up a lead of as many as 12 points in the opening half before taking a 42-34 edge into the break. 

The script flipped in the second half, however, as SWOSU opened the period with five-straight makes and tied the game at 47-47 at the 16:47 mark. The next 10 minutes proved to be a tug of war. The lead changed hands six times with neither side able to create any meaningful separation from the other.

With the Bulldogs up 68-67 and 5:47 remaining, the run that decided the contest came for SWOSU as they went on an 8-0 run, fueled by two 3-pointers, to seize a 75-67 lead with 4:10 left. The Reddies scrapped down the stretch and twice cut the deficit to four points in the final seconds, but it was too late and Southwestern was able to melt away the clock and hold on for the road win.

SWOSU's Jalen Johnson proved to be the difference in the game as he poured in 23 of his game-high 32 points in the second half. The Reddies hit nine total 3-pointers in contest, including four down the home stretch, but were stung on the other end by hot shooting from Southwestern, who connected on 58% of its looks in the final 20 minutes of play. 

Henderson returns to action on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. when it hosts Ouachita Baptist in the Battle of the Ravine at the Duke Wells Center.