Tweet #theGAC  BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – Henderson State won the 2020 Great American Conference Men’s Basketball Championship by leading wire-to-wire in a 72-61 victory against Oklahoma Baptist on Sunday from the Bruin Fieldhouse.
 
The Reddies (23-8) built a 12-point advantage through the games opening seven minutes. The Bison (22-9) went on a 14-4 run to bring them to within two, 23-21, before the Reddies closed the half on a 12-4 run of their own to lead by 10, 35-25.
 
Henderson State’s lead never dipped below seven points through the first 13 minutes of the second half and owned its largest lead of 64-48 with 6:30 remaining. The Bison mustered one final charge as they scored 13 unanswered points over the next four minutes.
 
Tournament MVP Chris Parker exhibited the Reddies resilience by converting 5-of-6 free throws in the final 2:30 of the game. The Reddies closed the game out on an 8-0 run. He averaged a team-leading 17.3 points per game this week and went 7-of-14 from the 3-point arc.
 
The tournament championship represented the first for the program since 2002-03 when the Reddies captured the Gulf South Conference title. Raekwon Rogers and Rel Johnson joined Parker on the All-Tournament Team. Rogers grabbed a team-leading nine rebounds on Sunday and averaged 9.3 in the three games. He added 14.0 points per game on 62.5 percent shooting. Johnson also averaged in double figures for the week at 14.3 per game.
 
In the defeat, Rashad Lewis scored a game-high 27 points. He went 5-for-10 from the 3-point arc and earned All-Tournament honors. Jaquan Simms and Dishon Lowery also garnered All-Tournament accolades. Simms shot 42.1 percent from the 3-point arc and Lowery averaged 11.3 points on 58.3 percent shooting.
 
Southeastern Oklahoma State’s Adam Dworsky and Southern Nazarene’s Micah Speight filled out the All-Tournament Team. Dworsky averaged 19.5 points and 9.5 assists. He shot 61.5 percent from the field in the Savage Storm’s two games. Speight recorded a pair of 20-point games while averaging 4.0 assists and 3.0 steals.
 
The Reddies claimed the league’s automatic bid to next week’s NCAA Tournament. Oklahoma Baptist, who entered the week ranked eighth in the Central Region hopes to land one of the five at-large bids. The selection show streams on NCAA.com at 9:30 PM. Southern Nazarene and Southeastern Oklahoma State stand to claim at-large berths as well. The GAC has sent three teams to the NCAA Tournament just one time in the league’s first eight years. Arkansas Tech, Arkansas-Monticello and East Central all made the field in 2017.