BOX SCORE || BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – Harding connected on a Great American Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament Championship record 12 3-point field goals and became the third lower seed to win on Thursday as the Bisons scored a 77-65 win against fourth-seeded East Central on Thursday from the Bruin Fieldhouse.
The Bisons (13-14) hit eight of those 3-point shots in the first half as they jumped out to a 40-29 lead after the opening 20 minutes. They did not trail as they advanced to the semifinals for the second-straight year. First-Team All-GAC forward Hayden Johnson scored 14 of his team-high 24 points in the first half.
Johnson led four Bisons in double figures. GAC Freshman of the Year Will Francis scored 14 points and Blake McNair added 10 points. Weston Jameson scored 17 points with four 3-pointers. He added a GAC Men’s Championship-tying 11 assists. He committed just one turnover and the Bisons as a team tallied 19 assists against only six turnovers.
In contrast to the Bisons’ 12 3-point field goals, the Tigers (15-12) hit only 4-of-19 from the 3-point arc in their first conference tournament game since the 2002-03 season. After shooting a combined 56.4 percent against the Bisons in two regular-season wins against Harding, the Tigers shot just 43.1 percent on Thursday.
East Central’s Henry Pwono made his first nine shots and finished 12-of-15 from the field. He scored a game-high 27 points, pulled down 13 rebounds, blocked three shots and added two steals. The reigning GAC Player of the Week closed his season by averaging 30.3 points and 12.0 rebounds over his final three games. He made 34-of-46 shots, good for a 73.9 field goal percentage.
The Bisons will play Arkansas Tech at 2:15 pm on Saturday. The Wonder Boys also own a pair of one-point victories against Harding. Last year, as the top seed, Harding lost to the fifth seed, Ouachita Baptist, in the semifinal round. All GAC Basketball Championship contests stream on
GACSportsNetwork.com.