MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Thanks to a stout defensive effort and an overall balanced scoring attack, the Southern Arkansas men's basketball team was able to pick up a big win at home against East Central, 76-66, on Thursday night inside the W.T. Watson Center.
 
In the win, the Muleriders' (10-8, 7-5 GAC) defensive prowess showed over the entirety of the game as they held the Great American Conference's top-offensive team in East Central to 17.9 points below their season average while also limiting them to just a 38% success rate overall from the floor, well below their season mark of 47% which ranked second in the GAC coming into play.
 
A result of the strong defensive performance, the Muleriders also were able to hold the Tigers' (12-6, 8-4 GAC) starting lineup to a combined 33 points. But, perhaps even more impressive was the fact that the Muleriders were able to shut down the league's top individual scorer in Sterling Thomas as he scored just six points on the night, which was nearly 15 points off his season average.
 
Another direct result of the Muleriders' defensive pressure was the fact that SAU turned Tigers over 14 times, and on most of those turnovers, it allowed the Muleriders to get out in transition where they scored 14-fast break points, igniting the W.T. Watson Center in the process.
 
The greatest example of that came over a 30 second period time late in the second half when the Muleriders, who were leading by six points, with 1:28 left in the game, got consecutive steals which led to fast break scores on the other end to push their lead out to 10 points, 74-64. The final of those scores was perhaps the most emphatic of the game as De'Sean Dockery threw down a thunderous breakaway dunk following a steal by Jaron Davis.
 
While the Muleriders were great on defense on Thursday night, on the offensive side of the ball, the Muleriders were very balanced as they had six players score at least seven points in the game with three reaching double figures while the top scoring output was 13, done by Davis and Dockery, respectively.
 
The Muleriders will now prepare to close out their current three-game home stand with a Saturday afternoon game against Southeastern Oklahoma. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m.