WEATHERFORD, Okla. — After falling behind 67-66 with 3:40 left on Saturday, Henderson State closed the game on a 14-3 run to defeat Southwestern Oklahoma State 80-70 at the Pioneer Cellular Event Center.

The win was the 100th for head coach Jimmy Elgas at Henderson State. Elgas becomes just the fourth coach in program history to win 100 or more games at the school, joining Don Dyer (316), Rand Chappell (120) and Grady Bean (101).

Five different players scored in double figures for the Reddies (8-5, 4-3) in the victory. Malik Riddle finished with a team-high 17 points — 14 of which came in the second half. Ryan Boyce had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Xavier Davenport added 12 and Quawn Marshall and Alvin Miles each had 11.

After a back-and-forth start, Henderson was in control of the game for most of the afternoon. The lead changed hands 12 times in the first 15 minutes of the opening half, but with the score knotted at 22-22, the Reddies put together a big run. HSU used 3-pointers from Riddle and Miles, as well as an alley-oop jam from Boyce, to power an 11-1 run and surge in front 33-23 at the 2:39 mark.

SWOSU looked to steal some momentum before the break, and used an 8-0 spurt to trim the deficit to 33-31, but a 3-pointer from Graham Chenault in the last minute of the half and a buzzer-beating jumper from Miles reestablished a 38-31 lead for Henderson after 20 minutes. The Reddies hit four 3-pointers in the last five minutes of the period.

The Bulldogs scored the first five points of the second half to trim the lead down to 38-36, but HSU had an answer and got five quick points from Riddle to help extend the advantage back out to 45-36 with 15:13 remaining. Henderson continued to slowly stretch the lead over the next several minutes, as back-to-back 3-pointers from Miles and Davenport gave the Reddies their largest lead of the game, 56-45, at the 11:33 mark.

Although Southwestern continued to try and climb back, HSU was able to keep them at bay as the game entered its final stretch. The Bulldogs got as close at 59-55 with 8:24 left behind a 10-3 run, but a 3-pointer from Riddle and a bucket from Boyce helped Henderson go up 64-57 with 6:54 to go.

At that moment, the game flipped in SWOSU’s favor. After leading for the entire second half, the Reddies watched as Southwestern put together a 10-2 run over the next three minutes and seized a 67-66 advantage with 3:40 remaining in the game.

With the momentum suddenly on the home team’s bench and trailing for the first time since the first half, the Reddies answered the bell with the run that would define the game. A jumper from Boyce quickly gave the lead back to HSU and back-to-back driving layups from Marshall on the next two possessions stretched the advantage to 72-67 at the 1:39 mark.

A 3-pointer from the Bulldogs, which would prove to be their last points of the game, cut the deficit to 72-70 with 1:13 left, but Henderson was too much in the final minute. Marshall again came through with a slicing lay-in to make it 74-70 on the ensuing possession for HSU and the Reddies locked down SWOSU on the other end. Southwestern missed four shots and committed a turnover in the last 35 seconds, as Henderson was able to salt the game away at the free throw line and win it, 80-70.

The Reddies shot a scorching 69.6% (16-of-23) from the floor in the second half and hit a season-high 11 3-pointers in the game. Henderson also shared the ball exceptionally well and finished with 22 assists — the most in a single game for the program since 2019. The victory was the 11th-straight for HSU over Southwestern Oklahoma.

Henderson returns to the floor on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. when it hosts rival Ouachita Baptist at the Duke Wells Center.

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WEATHERFORD, Okla. – Ma’Darius Hobson nailed a long two-pointer with one second remaining in overtime on Thursday to give the Ouachita Baptist University men’s basketball team an 82-81 road win over Southwestern Oklahoma State.

Hobson’s game-winner was right in front of the Ouachita (3-8, 1-4 GAC) bench to give the Tigers their first conference victory and first road win of the season.

Ouachita led by as many as 11 points in the first half, and held a 10-point lead of 46-36 at the halftime break.

SWOSU (3-8, 2-4 GAC) rallied in the second half to outscore the Tigers 38-28 to force overtime. Neither team scored in the final 1:44 of the second half.

Prior to Hobson’s game-winner, neither team had scored since SWOSU went up by one on a three-pointer with 2:15 remaining in the extra period.

Hobson led the Tigers with 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting. He also had a team high seven rebounds and four assists. Tylar Haynes added 15 points and seven rebounds in 29 minutes off the bench. Alex Scariolo added 13 points and five boards. T’vondrick Henryhad 11 points.

The Tigers carry their momentum a couple hours north to take on Northwestern Oklahoma State on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m.

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HOT SPRINGS – The sixth seed Harding volleyball team defeated the third seed Southwestern Oklahoma 3-1 (25-27, 25-23, 31-29, 27-25) Thursday in the opening round of the Great American Conference Tournament at Bank OZK Arena.

Harding advances to the semifinals were it will face No. 2 seed Northwestern Oklahoma at 3:30 p.m., Friday.

Harding improves to 20-10 overall. It was the 27th time and the fourth straight the Lady Bisons have won 20 or more matches in a season.

Southwestern Oklahoma ends its season with a 16-12 record.

FIRST SET

With the first set tied at six, Harding won the next four points on two kills to lead 10-6. Southwestern Oklahoma bounced back to pull within one, 10-9. Harding then went on an 8-4 run to lead 18-13. Trailing 23-19, the Bulldogs won three straight points to pull within one, 23-22. Harding had two set points but Southwestern Oklahoma won the set 27-25. The Lady Bisons had 19 kills in the set.

SECOND SET

Harding jumped out to a 10-1 lead in the second set on three kills and three blocks. Trailing 19-9, Southwestern Oklahoma went on a 12-3 run to pull within one, 22-21. The Lady Bisons won three of the next five points to win the set 25-23.

THIRD SET

Trailing 14-12 in the third set, Harding went on a 4-0 run on two kills to lead 16-14. The Lady Bisons held on to its lead until Southwestern Oklahoma took a 23-22 lead. Harding had five set points and finally won when it closed on the set on a 3-0 run on three straight kills to win 31-29. The Lady Bisons had 22 kills in the set.

FOURTH SET

Southwestern Oklahoma took a 9-4 lead in the fourth set as Harding had five attack errors. The Lady Bisons went on a 13-7 run to lead 17-16. Trailing 24-23, Harding went on a 4-1 run on three kills to win the set 27-25.

STATS

Harding
–          Logan Smith captured a double-double for Harding with 19 kills and 21 digs.
–          Libby Hinton had 16 kills, hit .353 and had six blocks.
–          Kelli McKinnon had 14 kills and Ally Stoner had 10 kills.
–          Sarah Morehead had a season-high 57 assists and had 17 digs.
–          Hardin had 114 digs led by Emma Winiger who had 22. Katherine Cowart had 21 digs and Kinley
Schnell had 15.
–          Harding had five service aces.
–          Harding had 69 kills, 30 attack errors and hit .179.

Southwestern Okla.
–          Morgan Maicee led Southwestern Oklahoma with 19 kills.
–          Emily Wood had 15 kills and 28 digs.
–          Kaitlyn Dillon had 30 digs to lead the defense.

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