MONTICELLO, Ark. – Southern Arkansas faced a double-digit deficit on three separate occasions, including twice in the second half, on Tuesday night inside Steelman Fieldhouse and each time the Muleriders battled back to pull within a possession of the lead. However, Arkansas-Monticello would not surrender their lead as the Weevils staved off Southern Arkansas' efforts to pick up a pivotal 68-61 Great American Conference win.
 
The Muleriders (13-13, 9-11 GAC) trailed by a dozen points at 16-4 with just over four and a half minutes played in the contest, but a heavy 18-6 run by Southern Arkansas, which ate up 10:24 of game time, tied the game for the Muleriders as a three-point bucket from senior trigger man Keeton Tennison, his third of the half, notched the contest at 22; the only tie of the game.
 
Arkansas-Monticello carried a five-point lead into the intermission, and the Weevils pushed the advantage back to ten points by the 16:48 mark of the second half. Again, Southern Arkansas would not wither as the Muleriders engineered a 17-8 run which ended with an 8-2 spark highlighted by a pair of baskets from junior forward Wesley Nosakhare and inside buckets from junior guard CJ Elkins and freshman guard Trey Davis that brought the Mulerider deficit to a single point at 45-44 with 11:07 to play.
 
At the 7:07 mark of the second half, UAM managed to build its lead back to 11 for the final time of the evening and the Muleriders once again responded. Senior forward KJ Collins converted an old fashioned three-point play to begin the 9-0 run for SAU and Elkins and Tennison each scored inside, before Elkins converted a pair of free throw attempts with 5:14 remaining to pull back within a bucket of the lead at 56-54.
 
UAM's Derylton Hill, who finished with a game-high 24 points, ended the Weevil's scoring drought as his bucket put the home team's lead back to two possessions. The Muleriders would get as close as three points down the stretch, but Arkansas-Monticello was able to hold off the Muleriders, while making a couple of key buckets late to pull away and win the game.
 
Southern Arkansas outscored UAM in second chance points 16-10 with all 16 of the Muleriders' points in the category coming in the second half. The Weevils turned 17 SAU turnovers into 17 points, including ten in the second half. SAU was outscored in the paint 46-32, but outrebounded UAM 42-33.
 
Tennison led the Muleriders with 16 points and added three rebounds and two assists. Nosakhare supplied a dozen of Southern Arkansas' 28 bench points. Nosakhare finished with a game-high nine rebounds, including five on the offensive glass. Elkins went for 11 points in the loss and added four rebounds and four assists. Collins and true freshman guard Gabe Gilliam combined for 14 points off of the bench, while freshman forward Charlie Thomas grabbed eight rebounds.
 
The Muleriders made just six of their 25 attempts from beyond-the-arc on Tuesday night, which included just two makes from range in ten tries in the second half. Additionally, the team attempted a season-low ten shots from the charity stripe and made a season-low seven of those attempts.
 
Despite the loss, the Muleriders sit alone in the eighth and final spot with two games remaining. By winning out and receiving some help, the Muleriders could potentially finish as high as sixth in the regular season standings. SAU is one-game back of a two-way tie for sixth with Arkansas Tech and Ouachita and just one game up on Henderson State who at the moment sits in ninth and is currently on the outside looking in for the postseason at 8-12. Southern Arkansas and Henderson State meet in a high stakes affair on Thursday and SAU will close out the regular season with a trip to Clark Country to face Ouachita on Saturday.
 
The Muleriders return to the W.T. Watson Center for the final time this season as they welcome in Henderson State for a pivotal primetime battle against the Reddies, who enter with an 8-12 league record and in ninth place in the GAC. The Muleriders beat HSU in Arkadelphia 90-76 on January 20. Tip-off from Magnolia on Senior Night is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Live links for all of the action are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.