Southern Arkansas Holds off Northeastern State
Posted by Houston Taylor on November 30, 2009 · Leave a Comment
By: Houston Taylor
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Southern Arkansas withstood a furious second half Northeastern State rally to down the RiverHawks 57-54 Monday at Dobbins Field House. The Mulerider victory avenged a 61-53 loss to NSU from a week ago in Magnolia.
A three-pointer from junior guard David Noble (Mansfield, Texas) gave SAU (4-2) a comfortable 16-point margin of 49-33 with 9:38 left in the game, but Northeastern State (2-2) went on a scoring spree over the next six minutes to pull within 51-50 on two Jason Jones’ free throws at 3:36. J.C Snead bombed three treys during the 17-2 RiverHawk run.
A key three-pointer seconds later from sophomore guard Chase Spruiell (Princeton, Texas) put Southern Arkansas up 54-50, and they moved it to a five-point game on one of two free throws from junior forward Justin Stuart (Hope) with 1:14 left. Snead used two freebies to cut the deficit to one again with 24 ticks left, but junior guard Channin Harden (Marianna) iced it for the Muleriders by canning two himself with 15 seconds remaining. Snead missed a desperation trey as time expired.
SAU led throughout, holding 10-point leads in the first stanza en route to a 30-21 halftime advantage.
Southern Arkansas shot just 32 percent in the teams’ first meeting in Magnolia, but reversed that with a 51 percent performance by knocking down 23 of 45 Monday that included 7 of 14 from beyond the arc. They were just 4 of 9 at the charity stripe, but hit them when it counted.
NSU was 18 of 42 (42.9), 6 of 21 (28.6) on threes, and 12 of 16 (75.0) at the free throw line.
Harden came off the bench to record a game-high 19 points in 19 minutes of play. Stuart added 14 points, and Spruiell and sophomore forward Courtney Rhodes (Hope) each pulled down five rebounds.
Marlon Burnett paced Northeastern State with 16 points, while Snead and Antoine Branch had 11 apiece. Pre-season All-American Jason Jones was limited to eight points, but had seven boards.
The RiverHawks held a 26-24 rebound advantage and committed 11 turnovers, while the Muleriders had only nine.
SAU returns for a three-game home stretch beginning Friday when they host Dallas Christian (Texas) College at 7 p.m. They face William Carey (Miss.) Saturday at 6 p.m.
