SEARCY – In a game that had 17 lead changes, Harding grabbed the lead for good on a Taylor Currie jumper with 9:35 left and the Bisons held off a late charge from Great American Conference leader Southeastern Oklahoma upsetting the Savage Storm, 76-73, Saturday at the Rhodes-Reaves Field House.

Harding snapped a four-game home skid with the victory and improved to 4-8 overall and 2-4 in conference games. Southeastern Oklahoma had a nine-game winning streak snapped and fell to 9-2 overall and 4-1 in the GAC.

“The guys came out and had great energy and great focus,” head coach Jeff Morgan said. “Who knows where it will go from here, but I really feel like this team is buying in and believing in each other.”

Currie’s jumper gave Harding the lead 57-56, and the Bisons pushed their advantage to eight at 71-63 with 3:51 left on two Stetson Smithson layups.

Southeastern scored the next seven points and cut the Harding lead to 71-70 on an Ante Brzovic dunk with 1:25 left. Harding ended the run with another Currie layup at the 1:05 mark, and Sam Henderson made a 3-pointer with 21 seconds left to push Harding’s lead to 76-70.

Southeastern’s Adam Dworsky came right back with a 3-pointer, but the Savage Storm missed two 3s late that could have tied the game.

Harding limited Southeastern to a season-low 37.5% shooting. The Savage Storm had not shot below 43% in a game this season. Southeastern also had a season-high 14 turnovers.

Currie and Smithson led Harding with 20 points each, and Ramiro Santiago added 10.

Kellen Manek led Southeastern with 21 points. Brzovic had 17 points and 17 rebounds for the Savage Storm.

Harding had one of its best first halves of the season, leading 39-37 at the break. Southeastern, one of the best 3-point shooting teams in Division II, made only 7 of 22 (32%) in the first half, and Harding held a 20-12 advantage in the paint with only three turnovers.

The lead changed hands 11 times in the first half.

Harding returns to action Thursday for its first Oklahoma road trip in two years. The Bisons will take on Oklahoma Baptist in Shawnee and will play Southern Nazarene Saturday in Bethany.

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MAGNOLIA – If the atmosphere inside the W.T. Watson Center was to ever be described as “raucous,” it was on Thursday night as Southern Arkansas used a furious second half rally to overcome a 13-point halftime deficit in a 69-65 Great American Conference upset of league-leading No. 23 Southeastern Oklahoma State. The win improves the Muleriders’ overall record to 12-13 with a 9-10 mark in league play and sends the team into seventh place momentarily in the conference standings with three games remaining in the regular season.

Junior forward Devante Brooks recorded a game-high 24 points on 12-of-19 shooting with 18 of those points coming in the second half and 14 dropping with under 8:45 to play. The Shreveport, Louisiana, native added nine rebounds and three second-half steals in 35 minutes of action. Junior guard Aaron Lucas dropped 22 points and picked up four steals, four assists and three rebounds in 36 minutes on the floor. All five of SAU’s starters recorded 30+ minutes on the floor and in the second half the Muleriders took advantage in some key areas as they outscored SOSU in points off of turnovers (15-2) and in points in the paint (30-10).

Trailing 35-22 at the intermission, the Muleriders engineered a 16-4 run over the opening 6:35 of the second half to pull within 39-38 of the Savage Storm; a run that was capped by a deep alley-oop from true freshman Dodge Brown to Brooks. SOSU’s lead would rise to eight at 50-42 through the under-12 media timeout, before Southern Arkansas managed to keep the deficit to within a possession or two through the seven-minute mark of the final twenty minutes.

With 6:28 to play, junior guard Gabe Gilliam knocked down a corner three on an assist from Brown. That make pulled SAU to within a point of the lead at 54-53 and was the first of four assisted baskets by Brown, who matched his career high with six dimes, down the stretch that helped turn the game in favor of Southern Arkansas.

The Savage Storm answered Gilliam’s trifecta with a three-pointer by Kayo Goncalves, but back-to-back buckets by Brooks, which were assisted by Brown, sandwiched a Savage Storm make to keep the Muleriders within two points of the deficit at 59-57 with 4:22 remaining. The fireworks came moments later and the “raucous meter” reached its peak as Brooks pickpocketed Adam Dworksy at the timeline before finishing on the other end with an emphatic one-handed slam over Goncalves which tied the game at 59.

Forty seconds later Lucas drove inside and laid in an attempt to give the Muleriders a 61-59 advantage, but Dworksy answered with five-consecutive points to put SOSU back on top 64-61 with 2:07 to play. Lucas again responded on a baseline drive to cut the deficit to a point and following one of two free throws by the Savage Storm, Brooks took over as he made consecutive buckets which tied the game and then gave the Muleriders its last lead of the night at 67-65 with 23 seconds left. Redshirt freshman guard Trent Ivy sealed the win with a pair of free throws in the final moments.

In that second half comeback, the Muleriders shot 57.58 percent (19-of-33) from the floor and made three of their nine three-point attempts. SAU led for the most important thirty seconds of the contest: the last thirty seconds of the contest.

The victory over their nationally-relevant foe is the first for the program since knocking off (RV) Minnesota State Moorhead 87-72 on November 11, 2017 in Lancaster, Texas. The last ranked opponent to fall at the hands of SAU was No. 4 Alabama-Huntsville on Jan. 2, 2011 when the Muleriders topped the Chargers 49-46 on the road.

Southern Arkansas returns to the court inside the W.T. Watson Center for the final time on Saturday as the Muleriders host East Central. The Tigers are currently one game up on SAU at 10-9 in league play.

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SEARCY – The Harding softball team swept Southeastern Oklahoma Monday in Great American Conference action at the HU Softball Field. The Lady Bisons won the first game 3-2 on two straight walks with the bases loaded and won the second game 4-1.

Harding improves to 13-9 overall and 5-7 in the GAC.

Southeastern Oklahoma falls to 8-14 overall and 6-6 in the GAC.

Game One Key Innings (Harding 3, Southeastern Okla. 2)

–         Harding got on the board in the first when Peyton Mills singled in Hanna Jones.

–         Southeastern Oklahoma took the lead in the sixth scoring two runs on three hits. Destiny Riddle and Makaela Wallace both singled in a run.

–         Harding had two walks with the bases loaded to get the walkoff win. Amanda Fields and Lauren Bazan each drew a walk.

Game One Key Statistics

–         Harding had six hits led by Kiley Persons who went 2-for-3.

–         Southeastern Oklahoma had seven hits led by Makaela Wallace who went 2-for-3.

–         Jenna Hipp had the complete game and picked up the win to improve to 4-3. It was Harding’s first complete game of the season. Hipp threw seven innings and had two strikeouts.

–         Destiny Riddle came on in a relief and received the loss and falls to 3-7 on the season for Southeastern Oklahoma.

Game Two Key Innings (Harding 4, Southeastern Okla. 1)

–         Amanda Fields hit a sacrifice fly in the first inning to get things started for Harding.

–         Harding scored two runs on three hits in the fifth inning. Katie Carney had a pitch-hit double to right center that scored Mason McCord. Hanna Jones drove in Harding’s other run in the inning.

–         Mary Mills Lochala had a pitch-hit single that drove in Lindsey Duncan to make it a 4-0 game in the sixth inning.

–         Southeastern Oklahoma broke up the shutout in the seventh when Symphoni Shomo singled in a run.

Game Two Key Statistics

–         Harding had six hits led by Mason McCord with two.

–         Southeastern Oklahoma had five hits by five different players. The Savage Storm stranded eight runners in the game.

–         Pyper James got the win for Harding to improve to 3-2. She threw six innings, gave up one earned run and had two strikeouts.

–         Jenna Hipp came on and pitched in relief to pick up her first career save. She threw one inning and had one strikeout.

Next Up

–          Harding will travel to Cleveland, Mississippi Tuesday for a non-conference doubleheader against Delta State. First pitch is at 1 p.m.

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DURANT, Okla. – Harding erased an 11-point second-half deficit but fell 74-68 to Southeastern Oklahoma in overtime Saturday in Great American Conference action at Bloomer Sullivan Arena.

Kellie Lampo made a free throw as part of a three-point play with 1:51 left in overtime to give Harding a 68-67 lead. On the following possession, officials whistled Southeastern’s Kamryn Cantwell for a charging foul on a made basket. A video review lasting more than four minutes ensued. The call was changed to a blocking foul on Harding’s Amanda Kearney with Cantwell’s basket counting. Cantwell also made the free throw and Southeastern pull away in the last minute.

Harding’s Carissa Caples made a 10-foot jumper on the right baseline with 1.5 seconds left in regulation to give the Lady Bisons a 63-61 lead. Southeastern advanced the ball to midcourt after a timeout, and Harding fouled Katie Webb with 0.2 left. Webb made both free throws to push the game into overtime.

Harding trailed 37-26 with 6:40 left in the third quarter but battled back to tie three times in the fourth quarter.

Harding, playing its fifth straight road game, fell to 8-4 overall and 3-3 in the GAC. Southeastern, playing its sixth straight home game, improved to 7-4 overall and 4-3 in conference.

Kearney led Harding with a career-high 19 points and nine rebounds. Lampo scored all 14 of her points in the second half and overtime, and Caples dropped in 12.

Cantwell led Southeastern with 21 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.

Harding’s next action is Thursday against Oklahoma Baptist in Searcy. Tipoff at the Rhodes-Reaves Field House is at 5:30 p.m.

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DURANT, Okla. — Henderson State hit a season-high 14 3-pointers on Tuesday and put five players in double figures as the Reddies held on for a big road win over Southeastern Oklahoma State, 94-92.

Henderson (8-2, 4-1) shot the ball exceptionally well in the first half and used four-consecutive 3-pointers at the end of the second quarter— one from Maci Mains, two from Lani Snowden, and one from Brittany Branum before the buzzer — to seize a 50-39 lead at the break behind 53 percent shooting from the field and 7-of-13 shooting from beyond the arc.

The Savage Storm (5-4, 3-2) came roaring back in the first four minutes of the third quarter when they used a 14-3 run to trim the Reddies’ lead down to just 57-54 with 6:06 to go in the period. SOSU tied the game on three separate occasions in the third, but Henderson never relinquished the lead and used 3-pointers from Snowden and Pink Jones to stem the tide and carry a 74-68 advantage into the final quarter.

The Reddies got a boost in the first two minutes of the fourth when Hailey Estes knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers but Southeastern responded once again and trimmed the lead down to 88-85 with 4:12 remaining. Pink Jones gave Henderson the breathing room it needed with five-straight points on the next two possessions to stretch the lead back out to 93-85, but the Savage Storm had one final push and closed the gap down to 94-92 in the waning seconds of the game with a 7-1 spurt.

Leading by two with less than 10 seconds to play, the Reddies got the stop they needed and forced SOSU’s Cierra Rangel into a wild 3-pointer at the buzzer which fell long, handing HSU a huge 94-92 road victory.

Pink Jones was fantastic for the Reddies and finished with 27 points, 10 rebounds and six assists in the win. Blu Jones and Snowden each added 14 points, while Branum had 12 and Estes provided 11 and eight rebounds.

As a team, Henderson had one of its best showings of the season offensively and shot 14-for-28 from the 3-point line and 16-of-19 at the stripe.

Henderson’s next contest comes after Christmas when the Reddies play their final game of the calendar year on Dec. 29 against non-conference foe Midwestern State at 2 p.m. in the Duke Wells Center.

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RUSSELLVILLE – Bo Atterberry, the former head coach at both Texas A&M-Kingsville and Southeastern Oklahoma, has been named the 17^th head football coach in Arkansas Tech history, Director of Athletics Steve Mullins announced Monday.

“We are excited to welcome Bo Atterberry as our head coach,” Mullins said. “The sense among our committee and staff was that he would be an excellent fit. He has been a successful head coach at every stop, and has a built-in familiarity with the Great American Conference that will serve him well in this position.”

Atterberry has posted an eleven-year head coaching record of 74-47, beginning his head coaching career at Texas A&M-Kingsville in 2007. His first Javelina team went 3-8 – the only time an Atterberry-helmed squad has finished with a sub-.500 record. Two years later, his team claimed the Lone Star Conference championship and advanced to the playoffs, and in 2010, his Javelina squad advanced to the second round of the Division II playoffs. Atterberry was named LSC Coach of the Year in 2012 and AFCA Regional Coach of the Year in 2010, in addition to being named a finalist for the Liberty Mutual National Coach of the Year in 2009.

He concluded his tenure at Texas A&M-Kingsville with an appearance in the Kanza Bowl and moved back to Southeastern Oklahoma, his alma mater, in the 2013 season as the team’s defensive coordinator and assistant head coach.

After just one year back in Durant, Atterberry took the reins of the Savage Storm program and reeled off five consecutive winning seasons, including a berth in the 2014 Texarkana Live United Bowl – Southeastern’s first postseason appearance since 2004.

Perhaps most impressive about Atterberry’s first season in Durant was the team’s five-game turnaround – going from a 2-9 record to 7-5.

Atterberry started his coaching career in Durant, serving as a student assistant and graduate assistant at Southeastern before moving to the high school ranks, spending a four-year stint at Bartlesville High School before returning to Southeastern as defensive backs coach in 2003 and being named defensive coordinator in 2004.

Atterberry and his wife, April, have a daughter, Jax.

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