ALVA, Okla. – Despite having not taken the floor together in over three weeks, the Southern Arkansas Men's Basketball team picked up right where they left off before the Christmas holiday as the squad opened 2019 with a 75-63 dispatching of Northwestern Oklahoma in Great American Conference play on Thursday night from inside Percefull Fieldhouse in Alva. The win keeps the Muleriders at the front of the league standings in a four-way tie for first-place.
Thursday night's win snapped a four-game skid for Southern Arkansas over the Rangers and is the first victory against Northwestern Oklahoma since December 1, 2016; a 77-69 victory in Alva. It also improved SAU to 9-2 on the season; the best 11-game start to a season in the program's Division II Era (1995-96) and the best overall start to a season since the 1992-93 campaign.
It was a balanced showing offensively for Southern Arkansas as four players scored in double figures with a pair of leading scorers in the Brooks Brothers duo of Devante and Jalen each going for 13 points. Ten Muleriders touched the floor in the win with all ten registering at least 13 minutes of action and accounting for a basket as Southern Arkansas controlled the tempo for much of the contest, while also holding a lead for over 38 and a half minutes.
The Muleriders connected on a near season-low eight trifectas, but that didn't matter as SAU employed a physical game inside with the forward play of D. Brooks,
Charlie Thomas, and
Wesley Nosakhare (pronounced No-Suh-Car-Aye) which combined to grab 14 boards, including nine on the offensive glass. The trio also combined for 26 points in aid of SAU outscoring NWOSU 40-10 in points in the paint.
SAU's 16 offensive rebounds is tied for the second-most by the team this season and marks the fourth-straight game with at least 16 rebounds on the offensive end.
Of the eight three-point makes on Thursday night by SAU, half came from the quick trigger of
Snyder Cenecharles (pronounced Sin-Uh-Charles) who finished with 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting from beyond-the-arc.
Defensively, the Muleriders picked up a season-high 13 steals and recorded their seventh game this season with at least five blocks. J. Brooks posted a team-leading four steals and
CJ Elkins followed with three.
Trey Davis added two steals and did a little bit of everything else as well as he notched four points, four rebounds, four assists, and a block in 15 minutes.
Northwestern Oklahoma shot 38 free throws, an opponent high for the Muleriders this season, but only connected on 22, while also shooting 16-of-44 from the field; opponent lows in makes and attempts against SAU in 2018-19.
Through the game's first 11 minutes, the Muleriders managed to build a 27-12 lead, but would be forced to withstand a Ranger run to close out the first half of play. Northwestern Oklahoma doubled up SAU in scoring in the final nine minutes as an 18-9 Ranger advantage helped the home team pull to within six at the break, 36-30.
The Rangers would pull to within one point during the second half's opening five minutes, but with Southern Arkansas leading 41-40 with 14:45 to play, Cenecharles knocked down a triple try to put SAU up 44-40 and in the process spark an 18-2 Mulerider run that set SAU up with a 62-42 lead with 6:32 remaining in the game. NWOSU fought to get the deficit to as little at nine with under a minute to play, but the Muleriders earned their third win in a row and the sixth win of their past seven contests against Division II foes.
Southern Arkansas concludes their first Sooner State road swing and looks for the season's tenth win with a trip south to Weatherford for a 3 p.m. tip-off with Southwestern Oklahoma State on Saturday. Live coverage links of the game are available at
www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
