It’s hard to stop a team that shoots threes well and does it consistently. The Bisons don’t do the latter, but they were lights-out last night from beyond the arc, making 14 of 27 outside shots as a team. It was just one of those games where everyone hit their shots, and SAU just couldn’t keep up. The 77-61 win for Harding marked their 13th consecutive home win.
The Bisons shot 49% from the field overall, although they only made 61% at the free-throw line and didn’t attempt that many free throws (for a GSC game, at least). They lost the rebounding battle to the Muleriders and were fairly even on turnovers, so the good shooting was completely necessary. It’s hard to say if the HU defense was really good, since I didn’t see the game, and SAU isn’t known for setting the nets on fire. The ‘Riders shot an uninspiring 37% from the field, 23% from outside, and 67% at the free-throw line.
I suppose it makes sense that the Bison shooting guards had a strong game, with the exception of Trent Morgan again being bottled up and held to 9 points on 10 shots, while committing four turnovers and four fouls. Sam Brown led the team with 19 points (5-of-7 on threes), and Stephen Blake had 18 (5-of-6 on threes and made his only two-point attempt) incredibly efficient points. Blake also had three steals, so he’s closing in on Morgan’s team lead in both that category and threes made. His .436 percentage from outside looks great, especially as often as he shoots the ball. Last night was his second consecutive double-digit scoring effort as well.
Kevin Brown got in on the outside shooting as well, making all three of his attempts from beyond the arc. I’d be interested to know if he’s really developing a jump shot or if that was mostly luck, but at any rate, it added up to an efficient 16-point scoring effort on 7 attempts from the field. Steven Barnett added 6 points and 8 assists, and he remains second in the GSC West behind DSU’s Chad Akins in assists per game.
The schedule dictates that the Bisons play on the road at #22 Arkansas Tech on Saturday, so that should be a good test for how the Bisons will fare against the GSC’s better teams.
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