Box Score SEARCY, ARK. – After earning a 30-point lead in the first half, the East Central University men's basketball team held on to defeat Harding, 93-83, in Great American Conference action at Rhodes Field House.
Box Score
The Tigers (3-4, 2-1 GAC) were led by redshirt freshman
A.J. Moutry, who was one of four ECU players with double-digit point totals. Moutry had a career-best 21 points, while junior
Brandon Lucas added 19 points, senior
Miles Mitchell tallied 18 and senior
Colby Carr contributed 15.
ECU came out firing in the opening stanza, holding the Bisons (3-5, 1-1 GAC) scoreless for the first four minutes and scoring 12 points for themselves. The Tigers continued the pressure and were up 19-3 with 11:35 left in the half.
ECU used several runs through the half that were bolstered by shots by Mitchell, who hit four threes in the first 20 minutes. The Tigers pushed the advantage out to 29, with 7:23 left to play, and kept the lead above 20 points for the rest of the stanza, taking a 56-33 lead into the locker room.
The Tigers opened the second half with another run, this time 4-0, and built the lead up to 33 points (71-38) with an 11-3 run over a three minute span. After the first five minutes, the Bisons started to push back and used a 19-3 run over the next seven minutes to cut the advantage to 76-59.
The game remained close for the next five minutes, but Harding again used a run to cut the deficit down to 10 points (85-75) with a 9-1 run. However, the Tigers made the most out of their free throws in the final two minutes, going 6-of-8 from the charity stripe, as the Bisons were forced to foul to try to cut the deficit even more.
Despite the pressure, the Tigers kept the win in their sites and earned a 93-83 victory.
ECU had a strong shooting night, hitting 62.5 percent (30-of-48) of their overall shots and 55.6 (10-of-18) percent of those from beyond the arc. The Tigers defense was also able to hold Harding to 44.1 (26-of-59) percent overall and 30.8 (8-of-26) percent from three-point range.
ECU will return to action Saturday, Dec. 7 at 4 p.m. when they travel to face Arkansas Tech at the Tucker Center in Russellville, Ark.
