Box Score

MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The Southern Arkansas men's basketball team opened their season with a high-octane offensive attack as they cruised past visiting Crowley's Ridge College by a score of 100-74 on Saturday afternoon inside the friendly confines of the W.T. Watson Center.
 
The explosive offensive effort by the Muleriders (1-0) was on display from the very beginning as Jeffrey Walker and Quintin Lee hooked up for an alley-oop just four seconds into the game after SAU's Alre'k Brown won the opening tip-off. Consecutive easy buckets in the paint followed as the Muleriders opened up a quick 6-0 lead. The visiting Pioneers (1-2) would withstand SAU's fast start as with 17:22 in the first half, they knotted up the game at 7-all on a made three-pointer by Javeon Walker.
 
On their next trip down the court, the Pioneers took the lead as Walker sank another three-pointer. Over the next five minutes, the two teams would match each other nearly shot for shot as the score was tied on four times and the lead changed hands on two occasions. The Pioneers, however, would grow their lead out to as much as six points during that stretch.
 
The remainder of the first half would be played close as neither team held a lead larger than five points over the final 11 minutes. The Pioneers would take a two-point lead heading into the break as Skylor Guess made a layup with 14 seconds left to break a 45-all tie.
 
In that first half, both teams shot well as the Pioneers were 17-of-38 (45%) from the floor while the Muleriders were 17-of-34 (50%) from the floor. The main difference between the two in the opening half was from beyond the arc as the Pioneers were 8-of-17 (47%) while the Muleriders were 1-of-7 (14%).
 
Trailing by only two points at the half, it did not take long in the second half for the Muleriders to regain the lead as the opened up on a 4-0 run. After Crowley's Ridge knotted the game up at 49-all the 17:55 mark, the Muleriders went on a 9-0 run that lasted 1:37 to take a 58-49 lead. Minutes later, the Muleriders would grow that lead to double-digits.
 
A made three-pointer by Josh Longino at the 12:40 mark cut the Muleriders' lead to single digits, by SAU's Nemo Sanchez answered right back with a trifecta of his own to put the lead back to double-figures.
 
From there, the Muleriders would continue to build on their lead, swelling it to as much as 28 points with less than a minute to go before ending with a 26-point margin of victory.
 
Statistically, the Muleriders were better on offense in the second half as they put up three more shots and made four more from their first half output. For the final 20 minutes, SAU was 21-of-37 (57%) from the floor.
 
For the game, the Muleriders were dominant inside as they had 68 of their 100 points come inside the paint. SAU was also active on the offensive boards as they came down with 15 offensive rebounds and collected 22 second chance points.
 
Individually, the Muleriders were led by Jeffrey Walker as he had a game-high 28 points on a sensational 13-of-15 shooting effort. Walker also has eight rebounds (one offensive, seven defensive), two steals, and one blocked shot.
 
Behind Walker in scoring was Alre'k Brown with 17 points. Brown supplemented his scoring with 10 rebounds (three offensive, seven defensive) as he registered his first double-double of the season. Brown was also very active at the rim on defense as he blocked six shots on the night.
 
Two other Muleriders scored in double figures with Mike Tomlin and Duke Reed scoring 13 and 11 points, respectively.
 
Tre'von Wilkerson led the team with seven assists.
 
The Muleriders will now hit the road for a non-conference test against Texas A&M-Commerce on Wednesday, November 13. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.