ALVA, Okla. – Southern Arkansas received 21 points on an efficient 8-of-10 shooting from junior forward Devante Brooks, while younger brother Jalen added 17 points in a team-high 34 minutes, but it was not enough for the Muleriders on Saturday afternoon as a late comeback bid slipped away inside Percefull Fieldhouse with Northwestern Oklahoma (7-13, 4-10 GAC) topping SAU 75-68 in Great American Conference action. The loss snaps a five-game winning streak for the Muleriders and evens the team's overall record at 10-10 with a 7-7 mark in league play.
 
It was the second time in a month that the two teams met on the hardwood. The Rangers took a January 2 meeting in Magnolia by a final score of 88-84 in overtime. Saturday's tilt saw eight lead changes and six tied scores.
 
SAU shot 44.6% (25-of-56) from the floor in defeat including a 56% (14-of-25) clip in the first half. However, the Muleriders struggled from three-point range connecting on only five of their 21 attempts including just two of their dozen shots from deep in the second half. The Rangers finished at 55% (22-of-40) from the floor and shot a dozen more free throws and made a dozen more free throws than the Muleriders executing at a clip of 75.8% (25-of-33) from the stripe.
 
Before SAU tied the game at 63 with 3:52 to play, the largest lead of the second half for the Rangers stood at seven points. The Muleriders hung around through a 15-plus minute span in the second half as the Ranger lead never grew to more than five points. Yet down the stretch, NWOSU engineered a 12-5 run through the end of the game with eight of those points coming in the game's final thirty seconds and six of which were made from the free throw line.
 
Junior guard Aaron Lucas scored ten points, all coming in the second half, and divvied out a game-high six assists. Lucas knocked down a three-point attempt to pull SAU to within five points of the lead in the final seconds of the game, but the contest was out of reach following a technical foul administered to the Muleriders that resulted in three Ranger free throws on the prior possession.
 
D. Brooks bullied inside all afternoon as he found multiple ways to get to the basket. However, the Muleriders, one of the league's top rebounding teams, struggled on the glass as they were outrebounded 32-23.
 
The Muleriders return home and will carry a 16-game home winning streak against in-state GAC opponents into a Thursday, February 6 battle with Henderson State (14-6, 9-5 GAC) from inside the W.T. Watson Center. Live coverage links are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.