MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Trailing by 11 coming out of the halftime break, Southern Arkansas manufactured a 10-0 run in the first four minutes of the second half to pull within a point of the East Central lead, but the Tigers would not surrender their advantage as the Muleriders fell 84-69 in Great American Conference action on Thursday night inside the W.T. Watson Center.
 
RECORDS
East Central (3-1, 3-0 GAC)
Southern Arkansas (3-4, 0-3 GAC)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED – 1^st HALF

• Wesley Nosakhare scored the game's first bucket and KJ Collins followed with a basket inside to give the Muleriders an early 4-1 lead.
• By the 13:49 mark of the first half, East Central had built an eight-point advantage, 14-6, before Lukas Hart drained a three-pointer to cut the deficit to five.
• Back-to-back trifectas by the Tigers answered the Hart three, before Nosakhare made a pair of free throws to bring the deficit back under ten.
• East Central's lead would remain at double figures to the 6:41 mark, before Charlie Thomas picked up a steal and dished it ahead to Hart who finished the fast break opportunity to pull the Muleriders back within eight points.
• SAU's next basket came after a pair of Keeton Tennison free throws as Quinton Gillette converted a transition basket forcing the lead down to seven with 5:43 left to play in the first half.
• Gillette would score again inside on the next Mulerider trip down the court and Nosakhare would follow with a paint bucket as the SAU deficit fell to two possessions with 4:06 remaining until halftime.
• The ECU lead would get as high as 13 down the stretch, before Tennison knocked down two more attempts from the charity stripe to lessen the halftime deficit to 11, 40-29.

 
HOW IT HAPPENED – 2^nd HALF

• The aforementioned second half surge for Southern Arkansas began with Tennsion draining a three-pointer on an assist from Draylan Perkins who followed that basket from range with a high-percentage make in transition bringing the ECU lead down to six at the 18:43 mark of the second half.
• Perkins would add back-to-back baskets inside on the Muleriders' next two trips down the court as the Tiger lead dwindled to just a bucket with 16:44 to play in the game.
• Less than 45 seconds later, Perkins was at the line with a chance to tie the game and made one of two to pull Southern Arkansas to within a point of East Central's lead.
• Jeremiah Fleming ended the Tiger scoring drought with a three-pointer to push the ECU lead to four and followed that make from range with another three-pointer on the next trip down the court as East Central regained control of the ballgame with an eight-point lead, 47-39, at the 15:07 mark of the second half.
• Perkins answered with a three-pointer to end the short 7-0 ECU run and Collins cashed in on an old fashioned three-point play as SAU managed to once again cut its deficit to a bucket, 47-45.
• The Tigers answered with a three pointer and Perkins followed on the ensuing possession with another big shot that seesawed the deficit back to two points, 50-48, with 12:35 left in the game.
• Perkins' big half saw the junior add two more free throws at the 12:15 mark before the Tigers began to distance themselves down the stretch.
• ECU blossomed their lead to nine by the 9:30 mark and just over two and a half minutes later the Tiger lead stood at 14 with 6:50 to play.
• Southern Arkansas would only be able to climb back within 14 points of the lead in the final five minutes of the game as the Tigers improved to 3-0 on the season in GAC play.

 
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• All 18 of Perkins' points came in the second half and he added four rebounds.
• Tennison followed with 17 total points in 31 minutes of action and grabbed six rebounds.
• CJ Elkins led SAU with a dozen boards and three assists and Lucas picked up a pair of steals.
• The Tigers shot 45.6% (16-of-35) from beyond the arc and the Muleriders converted just four of 26 tries from three-point range.
• SAU controlled the action inside as they outscored ECU 30-14 in paint points.

 
UP NEXT
Southern Arkansas returns to action on Saturday, December 2, for a 3 p.m. Great American Conference tip-off with Southeastern Oklahoma State University. Live coverage links available at www.muleriderathletics.com.