BETHANY, Okla. – It was the first Top 25 meeting between Great American Conference teams in league history and on Saturday afternoon inside the Sawyer Center, No. 19 Southern Nazarene got the best of No. 22 Southern Arkansas as the Muleriders were unable to overcome a slow start in a 73-54 loss to the Crimson Storm.
 
Southern Arkansas (14-4, 9-3 GAC) trailed by 15 points at the break, but played a much closer second half of basketball as they were only outscored by four points in the final twenty minutes of play.
 
Aaron Lucas led the Muleriders in scoring with 15 points to go along with three rebounds, three assists and three steals. Wesley Nosakhare followed with 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting.
 
Southern Nazarene shot 50% (15-of-30) from the floor in the first half and dominated the glass as the Crimson Storm grabbed 11 more rebounds, including six offensive rebounds which the hosts turned into ten second chance points in the first twenty minutes.
 
SNU would cool off a little in the second half, but added a dozen more second chance points after the intermission as a product of grabbing an additional nine offensive rebounds; giving the Crimson Storm 17 offensive boards in an outrebounding effort of 45-26 over the Muleriders.
 
In eight more shot attempts, SNU made seven more baskets than the Muleriders despite not shooting it well from deep (23.8% | 5-of-21). SAU shot 37% from the floor and made four of 11 three-point attempts.
 
The Muleriders slide to third place in the Great American Conference standings, but will play six of their final ten regular season games at home, including four of its next five games beginning first with a Thursday, January 31 matchup with Southwestern Oklahoma. Tip-off from inside the W.T. Watson Center is set for 7:30 p.m. Live coverage links are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.