If there is one thing we have learned about the Bisons basketball team over the past few years, it is that they are fighters, and they proved that once again this past week.
Despite the loss of a starter and their struggles on the road this year, the Bisons won two out of three games on a week-long road trip to put themselves in prime position to contend for the Great American Conference (GAC) title with just five games remaining. Harding is currently tied for second place in the GAC standings with Southern Arkansas University, and sit just a game behind conference leader Ouachita Baptist University, who the Bisons host in their final regular season showdown.
“It was great for our team (to win two on the road),” head coach Jeff Morgan said. “You could definitely see our confidence building after that four-game home stand, so then to turn around and win at Henderson and Southwestern really showed growing signs for our team. I thought the guys handled it very well.”
Helping the Bisons case was the hot shooting of sophomore guard Will Francis, who hit eight of 10 from 3-point range on his way to a 28-point night in Harding’s 79-52 blowout of Southwestern Oklahoma State last Saturday. Francis said that picking up their first road wins helps the entire team’s maturation process.
“It felt great to win a couple on the road,” Francis said. “We’ve all really matured and grown up over the past couple of weeks and I think games earlier this season where we fell short on the road really helped us in that process. We’re still a young team trying to develop a toughness about us, so this helps that a lot.”
The quick maturation may come in handy for the young Bisons down the stretch of their 2015 regular season schedule. With a chance at a conference title looming, the stakes in their final five games will be as high as ever, but Morgan has been in these situations before and said that even with rising stakes, the process remains the same for his team.
“The message really doesn’t change,” Morgan said. “We talked yesterday about how practice equals high energy, intensity, focus and being talkative. That’s kind of been our approach. Every day we come out to practice it’s about the process. But with five (games) to go, we’re in great shape to win a conference title. The only place that would be better is if we were leading the whole thing.”
As for Francis, a returnee from last year’s conference tournament winning squad, he and the rest of the Bisons know that everything they have fought for all year is now right in front of them, they just have to take it.
“Every goal we set out to accomplish at the beginning of the year is still out here,” Francis said. “Our mindset hasn’t changed. We’re going to work extremely hard and give great effort every time we’re on the floor.”
The Bisons second-to-last home game is tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. in the Rhodes Field House against Southeastern Oklahoma State University.
