BETHANY, Okla. – Southern Arkansas went toe-to-toe with one of the Central Region's best on Thursday night inside the Sawyer Center, but #22 Southern Nazarene was just too much for the Muleriders as SAU suffered a 67-59 defeat to the Crimson Storm in Great American Conference play. Despite the loss, Southern Arkansas punched its ticket to the league's upcoming postseason tournament next weekend in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. The Muleriders are the lone conference team to appear in the previous eight league tournaments. SAU's seeding for the tournament is still to be decided.

Entering the night, the Muleriders needed either an outright victory over Southern Nazarene or losses by both Arkansas Tech (at Northwestern Oklahoma) and Southwestern Oklahoma (vs. Harding) in order to clinch a tournament berth. 
 
The Muleriders (13-14, 10-11 GAC) received double-figure scoring nights from the sibling duo of Devante and Jalen Brooks. Devante's 20 points came on an efficient 7-of-9 shooting and he added nine rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal, while Jalen recorded his fourth double-double of the season with 16 points, ten rebounds, one block and a steal.
 
Southern Arkansas outscored SNU inside 40-30 and grabbed four more rebounds than their opponent (32-28), but the Crimson Storm relied on 29 points from Jhonathan Dunn and a 36.4% (8-of-22) success rate from three-point range to hold off the Muleriders late. SAU struggled from range as they connected on just three of their 18 attempts from beyond-the-arc.
 
The teams combined for just 29 free throw attempts and committed just 15 turnovers between them.
 
SNU's second-half lead grew to as much as 13 points and the Muleriders managed to cut the deficit to as little as five points. In the opening 20 minutes, SAU refused to allow SNU's lead to get above eight points. The Muleriders held the Crimson Storm to their lowest scoring output of the season at home as the 67 points by SNU are the fewest since a 67-61 win over #15 Northern State on November 9.
 
The Muleriders now head to Shawnee for a 3 p.m. tipoff with Oklahoma Baptist, the No. 8 ranked team in the latest Central Region rankings, in the season finale from inside the Noble Complex. Live coverage links are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.