COMMERCE, Texas – Trailing by as many as 19 points early in the second half, the Southern Arkansas men's basketball rallied back to get as close as four points with just under five minutes left in the game, but Texas A&M-Commerce held off the threat and eventually came away with an 84-75 win on Tuesday night inside The Field House.
 
RECORDS
Southern Arkansas Muleriders (3-2)
Texas A&M-Commerce Lions (4-0)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Early play was closely-contested with two lead changes, one tie score, and neither team leading by more than five points through the first five and a half minutes.
• The last of those lead changes came at the 15:30 mark of the first half and put A&M-Commerce on top, 14-13. The Lions went on to lead the remainder of the half and carried a 15-point cushion into the locker room thanks to a 6-0 run over the final two minutes
• Out of the break, the Lions quickly established their largest lead of the game, 19 points, 52-33, with 18:51 left on the clock. SAU's initial bucket of the second half followed shortly thereafter as CJ Elkins cleaned up his own missed three pointer with a made layup.
• SAU and A&M-Commerce traded the points over the next three minutes of game time, keeping the Lions in front by 19
• A 6-0 run by SAU trimmed the deficit down to 13 points with 13:45 remaining. After A&M-Commerce broke the run with a jumper by Trey Washington, the Muleriders went on another 6-0 run to bring the game to single digits for the first time since late in the first half.
• Commerce fought off that surge by SAU and regained a double-digit lead with just under seven minutes left in the game, but yet another 6-0 burst by SAU suddenly made it a four-point game, 69-65 with 4:27 remaining.
• As quickly as that happened, the Muleriders found themselves trailing big once more after a sequence of two made three-pointers and four made free throws (two technical) by the Lions made it a 14-point deficit for SAU
• Despite that game-changing sequence, the Muleriders rallied once more and closed the game by out-scoring the Lions 10-5 to make the final margin single-digits, 84-75

 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Keeton Tennison scored SAU's final 10 points of the game and the junior guard ended with a team-high 18 points.
• SAU had four players score in double figures and all four of those players made at least five field goals.
• The Muleriders clamped down defensively in the second half, holding Commerce to 36% shooting overall after a 55% success rate by the Lions in the first half. The tighter defense helped translate in more efficient scoring as well on the offensive end for the Muleriders as they shot 58% overall in the second half after shooting 42% in the first half.

 
UP NEXT
The Muleriders will play in non-conference action once more this week by welcoming in Williams Baptist to the W.T. Watson Center on Saturday. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m.