The basketball team fell Tuesday night in overtime against the Henderson State Reddies 91-88. The team has two weeks left in their season before the Great American Conference tournament begins on March 6 in Bartlesville, Okla.
The Bisons are 12-10 overall and 9-7 in the GAC after Tuesday night’s loss in overtime at Henderson. The Bisons are in the middle of the pack, sitting fifth in conference three games back from first, with the conference tournament two weeks away.
“Our focus every night out is to play as hard as we can and put our best foot forward,” head coach Jeff Morgan said. “I think we have just as good of a chance as any to go out there and win that thing.”
Morgan said they must continue to play sharp, put together a string of wins and finish the season strong before the GAC tournament begins.
Harding has two senior leaders on the team this year in guard Weston Jameson and forward Hayden Johnson. They lead the Bisons into the last four conference games of the season, with a chance to win, being just three games back of first.
“I think we are in really good shape going into the tournament,” Johnson said. ” We are in the mix at the top of the conference, and that’s always good to have an opportunity to compete for a conference championship going into the last four games.”
According to Morgan, the Bisons have dealt with adversity throughout the 2013-14 season, losing four players due to team and university violations. He said they have had to rely on each other to continue to play at a high level.
“We need to believe that we can win any game that we play,” Johnson said. “We are smaller and not as deep as most teams we play but we feel like we can beat anybody.”
Harding is ranked second in the conference in scoring but ranked in the bottom of the GAC defensively at No. 9, which is one thing Jameson said he thinks needs to change.
“Defense is probably our biggest weakness,” Jameson said. “If we can continue to improve in that area, then we will be tough to beat.”
Jameson said the team needs to finish the season by taking one game at a time, and if they stay focused, he thinks they can make some noise in the post season.
After last night’s game, the Bisons have three remaining games, two at home against the University of Arkansas Monticello and Arkansas Tech University before finishing their season at Southeastern Oklahoma City University.
“Going into the tournament you’re looking to get some momentum and try to finish on a positive these last two weeks,” Morgan said. “We have a game on the road and games at home that we can put together some good basketball, because obviously when you go into the tournament, you want to be feeling really good about where you’re at as a team.”
Morgan said the conference is as open competitively as it has ever been, and it has potential to be a great tournament with a number of GAC teams having beaten each other throughout the regular season.
