RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Behind five players in double figures led by junior guard Blake Rogers' 19 points, a hot shooting effort from deep by junior guard Victor Irhirhi and seven players that collectively shot 50% from the floor, Southern Arkansas surged early, engineered a small rally with under five minutes to play and then held off Arkansas Tech late for a key 89-83 Great American Conference road win on Saturday afternoon from inside Tucker Coliseum.

The Muleriders (7-3, 3-1 GAC) received 39 active minutes from Rogers who finished 6-of-8 from the floor and sank all four of his three-point attempts, including three in the second half. He had two assists and both aided Irhirhi who knocked down five triple tries as he finished with 17 points, three rebounds and two assists. Senior forward Devante Brooks recorded his 35^th career double-double with 18 points and 14 rebounds. Senior guard Aaron Lucas scored a dozen points to go with two rebounds, two assists and two steals.

As impressive as the shooting acts were from the Muleriders in the win, it was junior combo Jalen Brooks who reached a career scoring milestone as his driving layup at the 4:12 mark of the second half not only brought SAU to within a basket of the ATU lead, but pushed the Shreveport, Louisiana, native over 1,000 points for his career. He becomes the fourth player under current head coach Andy Sharpe to eclipse 1K in career scoring and is the third active player to do so in this calendar year joining his older brother Devante and Lucas who both did it last January. Jalen added five rebounds, four steals and two assists to his stat ledger on Saturday.

Southern Arkansas led 41-32 at the intermission courtesy of a 59% (13-of-22) shooting clip from the floor which included four makes from range in seven attempts. The Muleriders' lead grew to 13 points on back-to-back trifectas following a Tech basket to open second-half scoring. The Wonder Boys then put together a 15-5 run through the under-16 media timeout that resulted in SAU's lead standing at just 52-49.

The Muleriders built its lead to seven twice through the ten minute mark of the second half, but with 9:25 to play, ATU tied the game at 66. The second half featured five ties and six lead changes. Over the next seven possessions, the teams would trade buckets in a back-and-forth affair that saw ATU lead 74-72 with 4:54 to play. Tech led by four at 76-72, but an inside bucket by J. Brooks on an assist from Lucas again brought SAU to within a possession of the lead, moments before J. Brooks forced a steal and assisted Irhirhi on a three-point bucket giving SAU a 77-76 advantage with 3:40 remaining.

The teams either grabbed a slim one-point lead or tied the game over the next five possessions, but with under 2:30 to play, D. Brooks muscled in a shot off of a teammate's miss to push SAU back out front 81-80 and then Rogers followed up a steal from J. Brooks with a paint jumper at the 2:05 mark to give the Muleriders an 83-80 lead that they would put on ice at the stripe with a 6-for-6 effort: four from D. Brooks and the final two from Lucas.

It was a spectacular effort shooting from beyond the perimeter for Southern Arkansas. The Muleriders made 11 of its 20 three-point attempts and defensively managed to hold the Wonder Boys to nine makes from deep in 26 attempts. ATU shot 53% from the floor in the loss and attempted just 11 free throws.

Southern Arkansas heads into the Christmas break and won't return to action until Thursday, December 30 against Northwestern Oklahoma State inside the W.T. Watson Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Live coverage links are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.