Box Score

BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – The Southern Arkansas men's basketball team has advanced to the semi-finals of the 2014 Great American Conference Men's Basketball Tournament after they pulled off a 63-59 upset win over No. 2-seed Southwestern Oklahoma on Thursday afternoon at the Bruin Fieldhouse in Bartlesville, Okla.
 
The win for the Muleriders (12-15) in the GAC Tournament is the program's first win in a conference tournament since the 1999-00 season when SAU knocked off Alabama-Huntsville in the opening-round of the Gulf South Conference Tournament that year.
 
Thursday's opening-round game between the No. 7-seed Muleriders and the No. 2-seed Bulldogs (17-10) was a back-and-forth affair that came down to the wire. Throughout the game, there were six tie scores and an incredible 14 lead changes. Five of the tie scores and eight of the lead changes came in the second half alone as both teams battle valiantly till the final buzzer.
 
The Muleriders would hold the largest lead for either team in the game as they held a lead as large as 12 points towards the end of the first half. The Bulldogs, on the other end, would only enjoy a lead as large as five points in the game. With the relatively small apex leads for each team, much of the game was played within striking distance of one another.
 
With the closeness of the play throughout the game, the outcome inevitably figured to come down to the fundamentals, rebounding and free throw shooting. Fortunately for the Muleriders, they excelled in both areas against Southwestern Oklahoma on Thursday.
 
In rebounding, the Muleriders pulled down 46 rebounds, with 18 coming on the offensive glass. Those 46 boards were eight better than SWOSU as they pulled down 36 in the game. The +8 rebounding margin for the Muleriders was their highest in a game since they out-rebounded Arkansas Tech by 16 back on January 18. That game would also go in favor of the Muleriders by a similar score of 63-58.
 
In the free throw department, the Muleriders shot a season-best 94% from the line as they made 16 of their 17 attempts. The lone miss came in the first half as the Muleriders made 12 first-half free throws. While the Muleriders only had four free throw attempts in the second half, they came at crucial times as the first two attempts came with just over two minutes left in the game and the Muleriders down by two, 59-57. Both of those attempts would be good as the Muleriders' lone senior Duke Reed, buried them both. The final two attempts came with the Muleriders now leading by two points, 61-59, with 12 seconds left. As with the previous two free throws, Reed buried both, sealing the game for the Muleriders.
 
Four Muleriders would end in double figures with Jeffrey Walker leading the way with 16 points on 7-of-14 shooting. Tyrell Taylor was right behind Walker with 15 points while Chauncy Williams added 14 points. Alre'k Brown rounded out double-figure scoring for the Muleriders as he scored 10 points. Brown also secured a double-double as he pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds. Reed was next in rebounding with 12 of his own.
 
As a team, the Muleriders would only shot 33% (21-of-64) from the floor, but another strong defensive effort helped them limit the Bulldogs to an even lower shooting percentage of 30% (16-of-53).
 
The Muleriders will now have a day of rest before they resume their GAC Tournament run as they will play the No. 6-seed Henderson State Reddies on Saturday afternoon starting at noon. The Reddies also pulled off an upset in their opening-round game against No. 3-seed Arkansas-Monticello to set up the No. 6 vs. No. 7 matchup in the semi-finals.
 
Complete GAC Tournament coverage can be found at: http://greatamericanconference.com/