DURANT, Okla. – The Southern Arkansas men's basketball team was handed their first conference loss of the season on Saturday afternoon as Southeastern Oklahoma pulled away late for an 87-78 win over SAU inside the Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
Early in the game, the Muleriders (2-2, 1-1 GAC) would hold small leads over Southeastern Oklahoma until a 6-0 run by the Savage Storm (3-1, 2-0 GAC) midway in the first half gave Southeastern their first lead of the game, 20-17. Once the Storm grabbed that initial lead, Southeastern would go on a methodical 9-2 run over the next three minutes of game time to push their advantage to double digits, 29-19, with 7:29 left on the clock.
 
The Savage Storm would grow their lead as large as 11 points in the first half on a couple of occasions with the last of those coming with 4:48 remaining. Over the next 3:13 of the game, however, the Muleriders would rip off an 11-0 run to tie the game at 37-all with just 1:35 before the first half buzzer. Putting the exclamation mark on that game-tying run was Desmond Champion as he scored the final seven points of the run by himself, burying a three-pointer, making a layup and knocking down a jumper.
 
Southeastern's Sami Bzai would keep the Savage Storm in the lead heading into the locker room as he hit a jumper with 1:21 left to break the 37-all tie.
 
Coming out of the half, the two teams would trade scores through the first media timeout as it was a one-possession game in favor of the Savage Storm.
 
Out of that media timeout and for the next four and a half minutes, the score would be tied on four separate occasions with the lead changing hands twice. The final of those lead changes came with 11:30 left on the clock and went for Southeastern as the Savage Storm's Nathan Jackson hit a three-pointer to put SE up 59-58.
 
That lead change would be the final one of the game as the Savage Storm were able to keep the Muleriders at bay over the final 11 minutes before getting the score to its eventual nine-point margin.
 
Three Muleriders would score in double figures with Deon Andrews and Jaron Davis leading the way with 13 points each. Kevin Jordan was next in scoring with 12 points. Alvin Braddock and Tony Aska would tie for the team-lead in rebounds with seven each.
 
The Muleriders will now prepare for their much-anticipated home-opener this upcoming Monday, November 23 against Williams Baptist. Tip-off for the non-conference affair is set for 6 p.m. inside the W.T. Watson Center.