MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Leading by one with less than seventy seconds to play, senior guard Keeton Tennison nailed a rightwing three-point attempt on an assist from Draylan Perkins to give Southern Arkansas a four-point advantage down the stretch and the shot proved to be the dagger as the Muleriders picked up their fourth-straight Great American Conference victory with a 69-64 displacing of Ouachita Baptist on Thursday night inside the W.T. Watson Center.
 
The win puts Southern Arkansas over .500 for the first time this season and places the Muleriders into the seventh slot in the league standings. The four-game win streak is the program's first since the 2015-16 season when SAU won four-in-a-row twice that year with the last such streak containing wins over Ouachita, Oklahoma Baptist, and Southern Nazarene to close out the regular season, while the fourth win came in an 83-82 victory over Southwestern Oklahoma in the first round of the GAC Tournament.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Southern Arkansas led 40-34 at the halftime break and their largest lead of the night came with just over six minutes to play in the first half as they led by 11, 30-19.
• With a six-point advantage to begin the second half, Southern Arkansas used the first two and a half minutes of the period to build its lead to double-digits as CJ Elkins sank a historic mid-range jumper just above the free throw mark and Tennison followed with a three-point make giving the Muleriders a 47-37 lead with 16:59 to play.
• At the 12:44 mark of the second half, Ouachita had managed to claim the lead 51-49 courtesy of a 14-2 run, before Gabe Gilliam beat the shot clock on a quick jumper from the far left corner of the paint to even the score at 51 with 12:10 remaining.
• A Ouachita free throw on the ensuing trip down the court briefly gave the Tigers a one-point lead, before Wesley Nosakhare bullied his way inside for a bucket to give Southern Arkansas a 53-52 lead.
• The Tigers would claw back to tie the game at 58 points apiece moments before Charlie Thomas made good on a free throw attempt to give the Muleriders a lead that they would not surrender with 5:32 to play in the game.
• The Southern Arkansas lead moved to three as Elkins found a darting DeVante Brooks who pulled up just inside the free throw stripe to increase SAU's lead to 61-58. Seventy-five seconds later, with 2:45 to play, Thomas muscled his way through a defender and finished with a soft touch jumper to push the SAU advantage to 63-58.
• Successful free throws by OUA's Matt Stanley and a quick fast break bucket from Jontavis Willis kept Ouachita close with less than two minutes to play as the Tigers cut their deficit to one, 63-62, which in turn set up Tennison's aforementioned shot that was followed by a Nosakhare free throw and two charity stripe makes from Aaron Lucas which helped Southern Arkansas seal the deal.

 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Tennison led the way offensively for SAU as the senior trigger man did not miss from the floor on Thursday night shooting 6-of-6 from the field, including a perfect 5-of-5 from deep with a free throw for 18 points. The performance marked the second time this season that Tennison has been perfect shooting after a 6-of-6 shooting night with four three's in as many attempts in a blowout win over Crowley's Ridge.
• Nosakhare scored ten points and added six rebounds, while also claiming a career-high three blocks and two steals. Brooks recorded his second-career game with a dozen rebounds including seven on the offensive end and finished a bucket shy of a double-double, while adding a block, one assist and a steal.
• Lucas and Gilliam each went for eight points with Lucas picking up a career-best six assists and a pair of steals.
• Elkins finished with seven points, three assists and a block and became the 24^th player in program history to eclipse the 1,000-point scoring threshold. A redshirt junior guard from Minden, Louisiana, Elkins became the 16^th player in GAC history to reach the scoring mark and the first Mulerider to do so since Channin Harden (2007-11).
• Southern Arkansas shot 48.1% (25-of-52) from the floor and 37.5% (9-of-24) from three-point range.
• The game featured five lead changes and five tied scores with four of those ties coming in the second half.
• Ouachita became the second DII opponent to be held under 65 points by the Mulerider defense this season and it marks the fifth time this year that Southern Arkansas has held a team under 70 points scoring.
• The Tigers made just four three-point attempts on Thursday night, the lowest amount by any Mulerider opponent this season, including just one make in the second half. Additionally, Ouachita missed four three-point attempts in the final four minutes of play as well as two highly-contested inside baskets with less than 15 seconds to play. OUA shot 42.2% from the floor in the loss, managed just nine attempts from the free-throw line, but did out-score Southern Arkansas in points in the paint, 42-29.

 
UP NEXT
Southern Arkansas heads to Arkadelphia for a pivotal league tilt with Henderson State on Saturday, January 20. Tip-off from inside the Duke Wells Center is set for 3 p.m. The Muleriders will then return home on Tuesday, January 23, for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off with league-rival Arkansas-Monticello. It will be the first of three-straight games in Magnolia for the Muleriders. Live coverage links available at www.muleriderathletics.com.