Intense pract. ' lees and t men s basketball te eam Work aided th to glory th am as they e roughout th were leapin e season. 'lJ LEAPING TO GLORY W ith little college playing experience the men's basketball team faired very well in the conference race. "Considering the fact that we were so young and because we had such little experience, I think we did excellent," said Greg Stevenson. The Bisons were ranked eighth in the preseason predictions but proved this prediction false as they finished fourth in the conference and made it to the district playoffs. "I was really surprised that we did this well because with all our new members, we really jelled together well," said Keith Miller. The Bisons had 14 new players this year with only three underclassmen and three seniors, Marvin Mathis, Shannon Hughes, and Miller, returning to the squad. Hughes and Mathis served as senior cocaptains for the team. "I really felt honored to be co-captain because I was willing to do anythng to make the basketball program better. Even something as simple as being co-captain helps because it is the little things that count;' said Hughes. Mathis added, "It is an honor to lead the team the way Shannon and I do:' "I think that the reason we did well, besides the obvious talent we had, was that we had such team unity. We all got along real well, both on and off the court," said Stevenson. The team unity paid off for the Bisons as they won game after game and continued on into the district meet . "The best game we played was when we beat Southern Arkansas because we finally pulled everything together and played a complete 40 minute game really well," said Carl Collins. The young team pulled past their preseason predictions and went on to show the conference how the Bisons really played college basketball.<$])> Eyeing the Competition. Sitting on the bench can give team members not only a chance to rest, but a chance to view the action. By a margin of only one point. the Bison team beat Henderson State, January 15, at Harding's first conference game. - photo by Hernan Rivero/. ''We were really a team this year instead of being individuals. Everyone played their own role real well which gave us that team unity.'' - Shannon Hughes :-= "" ..,,.,,. ' I' • ,,.,,,. ij ... ~·,,,. ... ~ ;..:..-:-:--.-:-:-...• 0: ::::::::::::::::::::::: ::::::::::::::::::::::: :-:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·: ........... . . .. . . .. .. . . . . . .. . ... . . ... . . .. .. . . .. . .. . . . . . . . . .. ... ... . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111::1::1::111::::1::: .. . .. ...... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Men's Basketball 71
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