LANCASTER, Texas – The Southern Arkansas men's basketball team opened their 2015-16 season with a 66-53 win on Friday night against Minot State of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) as the two teams played in the GAC/NSIC Classic being played at Cedar Valley Community College in Lancaster, Texas.
Helping fuel the Muleriders (1-0) to the season-opening win was senior guard
Jaron Davis as he scored a game-high 20 points with 18 of those coming in the second half.
In the first half, both teams would find it hard to get their respective offenses going, especially from the perimeter as the two teams combined to make just 2-of-13 three-point field goal attempts with both makes coming from Minot State.
Despite the early shooting struggles from beyond the arc, the Muleriders were able to gain an advantage over the Beavers (0-1) as SAU established a strong inside presence with 18 points in the paint coming in the first half. Additionally, the Muleriders' defense was stout, forcing the Beavers to turn the ball over 12 times through the first 20 minutes with seven of those forced turnovers coming as steals. The Muleriders were able to capitalize those Beaver turnovers into 13 first-half points on their end as they took a seven-point lead into the break, 29-22.
Coming out of the half, the Beavers would score the first points to pull to within five points, 29-24, but a 12-3 run by the Muleriders over the next 2:10 of the game swelled their lead to its peak of 14 points, 41-27.
From there, the Muleriders would maintain a comfortable lead and cruised to a 13-point win, 66-53.
Behind Davis in scoring for the Muleriders was
Deon Andrews as he scored 15 points. The leading rebounders in the game were newcomer
Tony Aska and returning big man
Kevin Jordan as each hauled in seven rebounds.
The Muleriders will hit the hardwood for their second game in as many days on Saturday evening as they will take on University of Mary in the final game of the GAC/NSIC Classic held at Cedar Valley Community College. Tip-off between the Muleriders and Marauders is set for 5 p.m.
