MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Trailing 39-34 at the break, the Southern Arkansas men's basketball team out-scored Henderson State 40-25 in the second half to propel the Muleriders to a 74-64 victory over the Reddies on Saturday afternoon inside the W.T. Watson Center.
 
RECORDS
Henderson State Reddies (13-10, 8-9 GAC)
Southern Arkansas Muleriders (10-13, 8-9 GAC)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The opening 20 minutes of the game was back-and-forth action as the score was tied on four separate occasions and the lead changed hands eight different times as well. The final of those lead changes was a part of a 9-2 run by Henderson State over the final 5:14 of the half, which allowed the Reddies to enter the locker room with a 39-34 lead.
• In that opening half, Henderson State shot 47% overall from the floor which included a trio of makes from long range. On the other end, despite finding themselves down on the scoreboard, SAU shot a very efficient 52% overall from the floor and made four 3-pointers of their own.
• The second half, however, was a much different story as the Muleriders remained efficient on offense, shooting 52% overall once more, while their defense ramped up and forced the shooting to go cold for the Reddies as they shot just 24% overall from the floor and were 0-for-11 from beyond the arc as well over the final 20 minutes.
• The efficient second half started early for the Muleriders as they made their first three shots to make it a three-point game, 43-40, with 17:41 to go.
• Just about four minutes of game time later, the Muleriders regained the lead, 49-48, on a three-pointer by Keeton Tennison.
• Over the next seven minutes of action, the Muleriders' lead was modest as their biggest advantage was just three points. However, a 6-0 run that went from the 8:13 mark to the 5:57 mark gave SAU a seven-point lead, 63-56.
• A made free throw by Henderson's Kaylon Tappin briefly snapped the Mulerider run, but SAU then went on a 4-0 spurt to take a 10-point lead, 67-57, with 3:08 to go.
• The Muleriders led comfortably from there as the closest the Reddies would get was nine points.

 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Four Muleriders scored in double figures with CJ Elkins leading the way with a game-high 18 points.
• Keeton Tennison was the next-leading scorer for SAU with 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting. Four of Tennison's makes came from long distance. Tennison has now made three or more 3-pointers in five of his last six games.
• Behind Tennison was De'Sean Dockery with 13 points and Denarious Lockhart rounded out double-figure scoring with 10 points. For Dockery he has now scored in double figures in nine of his last 11 games and has raised his season scoring average from 6.8 to 10.5.
• In addition to his 10 points, Lockhart was a force on the glass pulling down 14 rebounds to record his fifth double-double of the season. It was also the second time that Lockhart has posted a double-double against Henderson as he had 24 points and 14 rebounds in the earlier meeting.

 
UP NEXT
The Muleriders will now prepare for the second installment of "Rivalry Monday" as they will hit the road to take on the top team in the GAC, #17 Arkansas-Monticello. Tip-off for the matchup is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. inside the Steelman Field House.