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Southern Arkansas University Athletics

Official Athletics Site of the Southern Arkansas University Muleriders
Devante Brooks vs. Ouachita
Matthew Wilkins
78
Winner Northern St. NSU 0-1
69
Southern Ark. USA 0-1
Winner
Northern St. NSU
0-1
78
Final
69
Southern Ark. USA
0-1
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Northern St. NSU 40 38 78
Southern Ark. USA 32 37 69

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | By: Jacob Pumphrey

Muleriders topped by #15/RV Northern State

Southern Arkansas rallies late, comes up short in finale at Central Region Tipoff Challenge

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – In a game that started over two hours after its scheduled tip time and ended around 11:47 p.m. CT, it was #15/RV Northern State and leading scorer Jordan Belka (30 pts, 10 reb) coupled with a quality shooting night that held off (RV) Southern Arkansas and double-figure scorers Aaron Lucas (19 pts, 3 ast, 2 stl) and Devante Brooks (18 pts, 6 reb) 78-69 on Saturday night at the Central Region Tipoff Challenge from inside historic Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City.

For the second-straight night, the Muleriders engineered a second-half run to cut its deficit to six, but it would come up short as the Wolves managed to keep its distance by way of the charity stripe.

Southern Arkansas' largest deficit of the night was 18 points with just under four minutes remaining in the first half. However, the Muleriders closed the opening twenty minutes of play on a 13-3 run to bring the score at the intermission to 40-32. Lucas delivered five points during that sequence and SAU received a jump shot from Tyler Garrett and three-point buckets by Connor Harvey and Kris Wyche in the final 75 seconds to help pull the Muleriders within eight of the NSU lead.

Northern State twice led by 17 points with under six and a half minutes remaining in the game. SAU chipped away trailing 72-55 with 5:41 to play. It was a 14-6 Mulerider run jumpstarted by successful back-to-back trifectas from the trigger of Garrett and Harvey as part of a sequence that also included a steal and an assist each by Lucas and Jalen Brooks and a block by D. Brooks all within a thirty second window.

With 1:40 to play, D. Brooks converted a hoop-and-the-harm play to bring the NSU lead down to eight points at 75-67 and two free throws by Lucas cut it to six with 59 seconds remaining, but three FT makes by the Wolves slowed the SAU surge as time expired.

Seven other players scored for Southern Arkansas in the loss. Blake Rogers scored nine points. J. Brooks led SAU with nine rebounds and three steals. D. Brooks recorded a pair of blocks.

Southern Arkansas returns to action on Wednesday, November 17 at 7 p.m. as it plays host to Arkansas Baptist College from inside the W.T. Watson Center. Live coverage links are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
 
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