MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The Southern Arkansas men's basketball suffered a 62-52 setback at home to the hands of Southern Nazarene on Saturday afternoon inside the W.T. Watson Center.
RECORDS
Southern Nazarene Crimson Storm (7-5, 4-2 GAC)
Southern Arkansas Muleriders (6-6, 4-2 GAC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Defense shined early for both teams as the score was 5-4 in favor of Southern Nazarene at the first media timeout of the half. Coming out of that media, SAU's Denarious Lockhart completed an old-fashioned three-point play to knot the game at five-all.
- The Muleriders then went on out-score the Crimson Storm 6-2 over the next three minutes of game time to take a four-point lead, 11-7 with 12:52 remaining in the first half. That ended up being SAU's largest and only lead of the game as the Muleriders hit a scoring drought over the next four minutes or so, and in that time, Southern Nazarene rattled off 13 unanswered points to take a 20-11 lead.
- Snyder Cenecharles broke the scoreless stretch for the Muleriders at the 8:13 mark and that sparked a quick 9-0 run by SAU that tied the game at 20-all with just over six minutes left in the opening half.
- As it did early in the game, defense for both teams was stout over the remainder of the half with just a combined five field goals made. SNU accounted for three of those and carried a two-point lead into the break, 26-24.
- Out of the break, SNU began to establish a bit of control and grew their lead out to nine points with 15:40 left before an 8-2 SAU run made it a three-point game, 38-35, with 13:34 remaining. That, however, was as close as the Muleriders would get to the Crimson Storm in the second half as SNU eventually went on to beat by SAU by 10, 62-52.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Snyder Cenecharles lead all scorers with a game-high 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the floor. He was also 5-fo-7 from the free throw. CJ Elkins was the only other Mulerider to reach double figures in scoring as he chipped in 13 points in 36 minutes of action.
- As a team, the Muleriders shot just 31% from the floor, their lowest output of the season
- In terms of specialty stats, Southern Nazarene held advantages of SAU in Points in the Paint (40-20) and Points off of Turnovers (12-7)
UP NEXT
The Muleriders will now prepare for a road game at Henderson State next Thursday. Tip-off against the Reddies is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.