SEARCY, ARK. – In the first meeting between the teams that split the 2015-16 Great American Conference regular-season title, the East Central University men's basketball team got a rare win in Rhodes Field House, defeating Harding 78-60.

The Tigers (7-4, 3-2 GAC) were led by senior Ishmael Donzo, who tallied his 11 career double-double.  Donzo earned a career-high 22 points and added 13 rebounds, two assists and two blocks, while shooting 66.7% (10-of-15) from the field. 

Senior Braxton Reeves added 17 points, senior Donovan Halsel 11 and junior Brett Cannon 10 points and a career-high nine rebounds.

ECU jumped out to an early 8-0 lead in the first two minutes of play.  The Bisons (6-3, 3-2 GAC) then started to push back and were able to cut the disadvantage to two (11-9), with 15:47 left in the half.  ECU countered by increasing the lead back out to seven (17-10) over the next three minutes. 

The Tigers kept pushing the tempo and built the lead out to as many as 16 and it looked like they would go into the intermission with a 15-point advantage.  However, Reeves hit a buzzer-beating half-court three to push the lead to 18 (45-27).

Harding came out fighting in the second half and went on a 7-2 run in the first two minutes.  The Tigers didn't give up and never let the lead get lower than 13 points.  Around the 16-minute mark, ECU increased the pressure and started a 7-0 run that lasted 5:30 minutes and pushed the lead to 20.

The Bisons were not done fighting, and put together an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to 12 (66-54), with five minutes left to play.  The Tigers fought back and got the lead back out to 20 points in the final minute on the way to a 78-60 victory.

Strong shooting from ECU as a whole was the key to victory, with the Tigers making 43.8 percent (28-of-64) from the field, while Harding shot 36.8 percent (21-of-57).

ECU will now head to face rival Arkansas Tech, Saturday, Jan. 7 at 3 p.m. in Russellville, Ark.