ADA, Okla. – In a defensive struggle between two of the top teams in the Great American Conference entering play on Thursday night, it was Southern Arkansas' Jaron Davis who would shine brightest on the offensive end as he scored a game-high 30 points to significantly help the Muleriders come-from-behind and edge East Central by a score of 59-58 inside the Kerr Activities Center.
 
The final two points on Davis' stat line came in the waning seconds of the game as he went to the free throw line with seven seconds on the clock and the Muleriders (8-4, 5-2 GAC) trailing by a point, 58-57. Leading up to that moment, Davis was 4-of-5 from charity stipe and he had split a pair of free throws just under a minute earlier.
 
Seemingly not fazed by the hostile environment inside the Kerr Activities Center, however, Davis buried both free throw attempts to give the Muleriders a one-point lead, 59-58. That slim lead with seven seconds remaining was the Muleriders' first lead of the second half and just their third lead all game, but it would end up being the most important lead SAU would gain as a last-second layup by the Tigers' (10-4, 4-2 GAC) leading scorer in the game, Henry Pwono, was no good, giving SAU their first road win of the season.
 
Having trailed for nearly the entirety of the game, the Muleriders saw their deficit get as large as 12 points with 13:37 left in the second half. At the 11:55 mark, the Tigers pushed their lead back out to 12 points, but over the next 2:14 of the game, the Muleriders would go on a 9-0 run to shrink the Tiger lead all the way down to three points, 44-41. During that stretch, the Muleriders forced three turnovers and Davis was responsible for all nine points.
 
ECU would finally break that Mulerider run and eventually built their lead back up to nine points, 50-41, with 6:46 to go. Over the next 2:13 of the game, the Tigers would keep the Muleriders at arm's length and led by seven points with 4:33 left before back-to-back layups by Davis and Alre'k Brown pulled SAU back to within three points, 54-51, with just 3:24 remaining.
 
A minute later, Davis knocked down a three-pointer with 2:24 on the clock to knot the game at 56-all. Seconds later, a pair of free throws by ECU's Pwono kept the Tigers with the lead.
 
Now with the game under two minutes and SAU trailing by two points, the Muleriders would benefit from an ECU turnover and two fouls on Davis as the New Orleans native looked to complete the comeback singlehandedly. After missing the first of his free throw attempts in the closing moments, Davis would knock down the next three as those three points turned a two-point deficit into a one-point win.
 
Statistically, the Muleriders ended the game shooting at a 40% clip from the floor (23-of-57), but it was marked improvement in shooting in the second half to get SAU to their final percentage. In the first half, the Muleriders shot 35% (9-of-26), but bettered that percentage by 10 as they shot 45% in the second half (14-of-31).
 
While SAU was improving their shooting totals in the second half, the Muleriders were also putting the clamps down defensively as they forced ECU to shoot just 30% from the floor in the second half (8-of-27) after the Tigers shot 42% (10-of-24) in the first half. Additionally, the Muleriders went from turning the ball over 13 times in the first half to turning the ball over just three times in the second half.
 
Aside from Davis, no other Mulerider would score in double figures, but six other players scored at least three points. Davis would also lead the team in rebounding as he narrowly missed out on an impressive double-double as he pulled down nine boards (eight defensive).
 
The Muleriders will now head to Weatherford, Okla. to take on Southwestern Oklahoma in another GAC matchup. The game will be played on Saturday afternoon and has a scheduled tip-off time of 3 p.m. at the new Pioneer Event Center.