- 1 290 · Basketball Tough Conference Proves Too Much (Contillled) three. Southern Arkansas University used trickery in their 67·62 win at Searcy. A controversia l inbound play with the Bisons down by a point and three seconds remaining on the clock resulted in a foul and a bench technical on the Bisons. because of a protest on the move. Mulerider guard Anthony Ashbrooks sank four consecutive free throws with one tick on the clock to preserve the Rider win. The other two losses came against Henderson State (73·66), and College of the Ozarks (74·60). Finally, the Bisons came away with their next conference win as they outplayed UCA, 75·69, in the New Gym. The UCA win was to be the last of the season, however, as seven consecutive losses were to end the year. Possibly the most exciting Bison game in a decade concluded the season for the Black and Gold. Hosting Hender· son, who eventually won the conference crown, the Bisons scared the Reddies all the way back to Arkadelphia as they con· tinually fought back to keep the game alive. The contest went through three overtime periods before a winner was J. SOPHOMORE Lawrence McNutt drives the lane in search of another bucket. 2. BISON FANS. alias punk rockers, nood the sidelines and pull for the Black and Gold during the Winter Festival game. 3. WITH A FLICK of the wrist , senior David Presley sends the ball air· borne over his opponent. 4. AN EASY layup is executed by senior Alan Pearson against Arkansas CoUege. 5. PLAYERS listen intently as coach Jess Bucy delivers instructions during a timeout. decided . The Bisons had a chance to win it when Smith took a shot from 20 feet with the Reddies ahead, 86·85, and five seconds on the clock. But the ball wouldn 't go through the cylinder and the Bisons were forced to foul with :02 left. Reserve guard Lewis Griffin cooly sank a free throw to ice the win for Henderson . Though the season was one of many losses, there were several great accomplishments. One was the consistency of Gardner during the duration of the year. Through more than half of the season , Gardner led the conference in individual scoring and finished the year second, behind Tech 's Wise. Charles' final average was an outstanding 17.7 points' per game. He completed the season with an 8 .1 rebounds-per-game average. He was a consensus All-Ale and AII·NAIA District 17 honoree. Another individual performance that was honorable was the setting of the school mark for career assists. Smith has dished out 445 assists in his career and eclipsed the old mark of 398, held by Tim Vick (1971·75). Smith recorded 105 assists during the year and broke the record in the 17th game of the season. ~
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