CLEVELAND, Miss. – In Harding's last two games, senior guard Stephen Blake has had more fouls (four) than points (two) in the two first halves.
But he's scored 51 points in the two second halves and scored all 22 of his points after halftime in 17th-ranked Harding's 78-73 victory over Delta State on Saturday. Blake scored 29 of his 31 points in the scond half of Harding's victory over Ouachita Baptist last Thursday.
“I think the foul trouble has played my first half struggles,” said Blake. “But I've just tried to increase my focus and intensity in the second half.”
Harding trailed by as many as 18 points and faced a 13-point deficit at halftime, its largest deficit at the break this season.
With 17:09 left, Delta State's Phil Turner connected on one of his seven 3-pointers to give the Statesmen a 50-38 lead. Blake answered with the second of his six second half 3-pointers, and Harding went on a 12-3 run and cut the lead to 50-46 on a Kirk Porter layup with 15:00 left.
Delta State's Arian Maliqi made a 3-pointer with 12:20 left and the Statesmen pulled back ahead by seven at 57-50.
Harding held Delta State without a field goal over the next six minutes, and the Bisons went on a 16-0 run to take a 66-57 lead on another 3-pointer from Blake with 6:15 left.
The Statesmen cut the Harding lead to one point, 68-67, on Ladarrin Williams' free throw with 3:40 remaining, but a 3-point play from Kevin Brown allowed Harding to pull away for good.
In the second half, Blake made six straight 3-pointers in the second half; some of them without a defender anywhere near him. Blake has made 12-of-15 3-pointers after halftime in the last two games.
“I really haven't done anything special,” Blake said. “I just hit a few open shots.”
Harding moved to 18-3 with the win and remained a game behind Arkansas Tech with an 8-1 conference mark.
Delta State had its three-game winning streak snapped and fell to 11-11 overall and 5-4 in GSC West play.
Kevin Brown had 19 for Harding, Kirk Porter 15, and Bradley Spencer 12.
Phil Turner led Delta State with 31 points, hitting 7-of-11 3-pointers.
Saturday's game was the first of four games in seven days for the Bisons. Harding is back in action Monday at the Rhodes Field House against Southern Arkansas.
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