Tappin, HSU overcome deficit

The Sentinel-Record/James Leigh HIGH-FLYING: Henderson State senior Kaylon Tappin flies to the hoop for two as Harding's Brandon Reeves defends at the Duke Wells Center in Arkadelphia Thursday night. The Reddies overcame a 12-point deficit in the first half and held on to win, 85-81.
The Sentinel-Record/James Leigh HIGH-FLYING: Henderson State senior Kaylon Tappin flies to the hoop for two as Harding's Brandon Reeves defends at the Duke Wells Center in Arkadelphia Thursday night. The Reddies overcame a 12-point deficit in the first half and held on to win, 85-81.

ARKADELPHIA -- Henderson State senior guard Kaylon Tappin put up 26 points to lead the Reddies in an 85-81 victory over the visiting Harding Bisons at Duke Wells Center Thursday night.

The Reddies (8-7, 3-6 in Great American Conference) battled back from a 12-point deficit in the first half to revitalize a team that lost three of its first four games of the new year. Their only other win of 2018 was a 106-96 victory over Arkansas Tech last Thursday.

Harding (1-14, 1-9) rolled to a 13-2 lead with 17:28 left in the opening half. The Reddies responded with a 7-2 run to pull within six at the 14-minute mark. The Bisons battled back to a 10-point spread with 10:54 to go before stretching to a 32-20 lead with 6:40 left in the half.

"We have been a team that has been up and down on the defensive end," said Henderson head coach Jimmy Elgas. "We came out in that game, I think from the tip, and they cut in front of us, and they just had a little more energy, a lot more energy in the first five minutes.

"For our team, we've got a bunch of new guys. We have not been very healthy. So we are in the middle of integrating all these guys together in the last couple weeks."

Elgas said the Reddies improved their defense.

"We had guys in gaps better," Elgas said. "We blocked out a little bit better. I just think our energy increased after the first five minutes. For us to get punched in the nose like we did and respond in a positive manner. That is really good for our guys, because we haven't always done that."

Henderson went on a 15-4 run to close out the half, leaving the hosts down 36-35 as the teams took to the locker rooms.

"I think a big part of it was Henderson turned it up a notch," said Harding head coach Jeff Morgan. "It wasn't anything we were doing bad, they just took it up a notch and got some second-chance opportunities that were a little more aggressive getting the ball to the basket. They did a great job of executing their stuff. A 12-point lead is nothing in today's game. A 20-point lead is nothing."

The Bisons shot well from distance in the opening half, hitting 7 of 13, but their 3-point shooting cooled in the second half, hitting 5 of 17.

"We got some great looks," Morgan said. "We had some great shots that we made in the first half that we didn't complete in the second. We really shared the ball well on the offensive end and got great looks. It wasn't like anything was forced. A couple of those shots go in, maybe a different outcome."

Elgas credited his team's ability to get their energy back up to helping shut down the Bisons' distance shooting in the second half.

"I think, for us, we've got to be in a stance away from the ball," Elgas said. "We've got to be anticipating passes and reading passers' eyes and being there in the flight of the ball. I think in the first half, we were upright and a little bit slow reacting.

"We've got a term that we say, 'You've got to get your motor going.' I think as the game wore on, our motor got going. We got to those shooters a little bit better and it helped us."

Henderson took its first lead of the game with nine seconds off the second half clock, 38-36, on a D.J. Franklin 3-pointer, and Harding set the first tie of the game 15 seconds later as Reggie Anthony made a layup.

The Reddies went on a 9-3 run to stretch their lead back up to six, but the Bisons battled back for three more ties before taking a 56-53 lead with 14 minutes left in the game. They continued to exchange the lead before the Reddies took the lead for the last time, 62-61, on a jumper in the paint by Tappin with 10:59 remaining.

Harding pulled back within two with 26 seconds to go on a trey by Tim Wagner, but it was as close as the Bisons would get as they were forced to resort to fouling to try to regain possession.

The Reddies shot for 50 percent in the second half, recovering from a 37.5 percent first half to finish with 28-for-64, 43.8, from the field.

"We are playing a little smaller lineup," Morgan said. "That has been good for us and helped us be better on the offensive end. As far as guarding, I think the basketball, and those kinds of things, has helped us on the defensive end. Whenever we are having to rotate defensively and stuff, we can get some bad matchups rebounding."

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The Sentinel-Record/James Leigh IN THE WAY: Henderson State junior Josh Jones runs into Harding's Tim Wagner as Jones goes up for a short jumper in the paint in Thursday's 85-81 win.

The Reddies outscored the Bisons 38-32 in the paint while out-rebounding Harding 46-32.

"They have had some injuries as well, some season-ending injuries," Elgas said of Harding. "They played four and five guard lineups that are very tough to guard because they spread you out and shoot it. One of the points of emphasis going in to this game was offensive rebounding. We really emphasized that the last two days of practice, and for Brad (Nairn), and D.J. (Franklin) and Raekwon (Rogers), we thought those guys crashed really hard because it was a big point of emphasis."

Tappin, a 6-1 senior guard from Little Rock, had four rebounds, two steals, two assists and a block in his 34 minutes of game time for the Reddies.

Franklin, a 6-5 sophomore guard/forward from Monticello, put up 13 for the Reddies. He picke d up seven rebounds while shooting 50 percent in all categories.

True freshman guard Chris Parker added 12 for the Reddies with four rebounds, three assists and a steal.

Harding was led by redshirt freshman guard Alex Francis and senior guard Wagner, who each had 18 points. Francis, a 6-0 Harding Academy graduate, had three rebounds, three assists and a steal, while 6-3 Wagner finished with two rebounds and two assists.

The Bisons, whose only win of the season came Jan. 11 against Ouachita Baptist, travel to Monticello today for a 4 p.m. tip-off against the Boll Weevils (10-5, 5-4).

The Reddies are looking to win their second back-to-back games since November as they host Southern Arkansas (8-7, 4-5) at the Duke Wells Center. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. today.

Sports on 01/20/2018

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