MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The Southern Arkansas men's basketball team had their first opportunity to play in front of their home fans on Thursday night as they welcomed in GAC preseason favorite, East Central, to the W.T. Watson Center. SAU treated their fans to a sensational game, and came away with a hard-fought 64-60 win.
 
RECORDS
East Central Tigers (0-3, 0-1 GAC)
Southern Arkansas Muleriders (2-1, 1-0 GAC)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• SAU jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead to begin the game thanks to a jumper by Denarious Lockhart and an old-fashioned three-point play by CJ Elkins. ECU then went on a 10-2 run over the next two minutes of the game to take a modest three-point lead, 10-7, with 16:14 left in the first half.
• Minutes later, ECU grabbed their largest lead of the game at five points, 15-10, thanks to a layup by KD Moore at the 11:10 mark.
• The Tigers held a slim lead over the Muleriders until the 5:19 mark on the clock when a pair of made free throws by Snyder Cenecharles broke a 22-all tie
• Over the remainder of the half, the lead changed hands twice with the final change going in favor of SAU on a Tony Aska layup. A painted jumper by De'Sean Dockery with 42 seconds left in the half gave SAU a 32-29 lead at the break.
• Coming out of halftime, SAU filled up the scoreboard with a 7-0 run over the first two and a half minutes to take a 12-point lead, 41-29. That would be SAU's largest lead of the game and the capping score on the run was a Darnell Jones-Bowie three-pointer.
• ECU finally broke the run at the 17:35 mark and used back-to-back buckets to suddenly make it a seven-point game
• The Muleriders staved off the push by the Tigers and remained in the lead.
• ECU made one more serious comeback effort late in the game as they turned an eight-point deficit at the 6:57 mark into just a two-point margin with just under five minutes left in the game.
• SAU's lead remained at two points with 4:15 left on the clock, but a 5-0 burst over the next 1:31 pushed their advantage to seven, 58-51, with 2:44 remaining
• ECU's Braxton Reeves then went on a personal 5-0 run by himself to make it a two-point game once more, this time with just 1:49 showing on the game clock
• Both teams traded layups as the game clock drained to under 30 seconds. Following ECU's layup to make it a two-point game once more, Elkins was fouled on the ensuing inbounds, sending the sophomore to the line for a pair of critical free throws. Elkins was true on both attempts and SAU led 62-58 with 18 seconds remaining
• On ECU's ensuing possession, the Muleriders' De'Vonte Thornton came away with a steal on an errant Tigers' pass. Thornton quickly made an outlet pass to Elkins, who promptly sent the W.T. Watson Center into a frenzy as he threw down a game-sealing dunk with five seconds left in the game.
• The Tigers added a layup at the buzzer to bring the game to its final of 64-60 in favor of the Muleriders.

 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• CJ Elkins scored a game-high 22 points. It was the third game this year that Elkins has scored over 20 points
• One other Mulerider scored in double figures with Darnell Jones-Bowie going for 10 points. Seven other Muleriders had at least two points in the contest
• A key stat that went in favor of SAU came at the charity stripe as the Muleriders shot 82% (14-of-17) from the line while the Tigers struggled to a 59% clip (17-of-29)

 
UP NEXT
The Muleriders will now prepare for a Saturday afternoon affair with Southeastern Oklahoma. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. inside the W.T. Watson Center.