Duluth, Minn. - Senior transfer student from USC Aiken, LeTravin Black, led Mulerider scoring with 14 points in his debut with Southern Arkansas, but despite an ambitious effort by the team, the Muleriders were topped 93-74 in Duluth, Minnesota by the American Family Insurance Classic host team in their season-opener.

Black was not the only newcomer to make a splash; junior transfer Gregory Hammond Jr. just trailed his teammate with 13 points scored on the night. Junior Jessie Davis Jr. led the team with his 71.4 field goal percentage, making five of his seven attempted shots to total ten points on the night.

Southern Arkansas' senior transfer student from Cameron University, Brock Schreiner started action with a layup at 15:20 in the first half after both teams failed to put up any points for over four minutes of play to start the game. The teams battled back and forth following the Mulerider points until SAU recovered the lead with 10:14 left to go in the opening 20 minutes of play and maintained it until just under the five-minute mark. University of Minnesota Duluth seemed to find their footing within those final five minutes and gained a lead over the Magnolia team, which they maintained for the remainder of the game. A Bulldogs' 6-0 run secured their lead that they continued to build on before topping the Muleriders 48-31 going into the final 20 minutes of play.

Southern Arkansas bounced back scoring-wise in the second half but weren't able to break away from Minnesota Duluth to repair the damage done in the opening 20 minutes. While the Bulldogs outscored the Muleriders 48-31 in the first half, Southern Arkansas stuck with UMD in the second half and only trailed by 2 points (45-43) in second half scoring. The Muleriders made the last two baskets of the night, including a 3 pointer from junior Jerry Carraway Jr. with just three second left on the clock, to cut their deficit under 20 points and wrap up the contest against the #7 nationally ranked University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs.  

Senior Blake Rogers picked up where he left off last season and notched 10 points on the night while making 100% of his shots from the free throw line to add to his career .798 free throw percentage.

UMD dominated three-point shooting, making 41.7% of their 3s while the Muleriders made 21.1% and connecting on 10% more of their overall shots than Southern Arkansas. SAU saw more offensive rebounds, leading the Bulldogs by 6 (12-6) while UMD only had 3 more defensive rebounds than Southern Arkansas (20-23).

A 1 p.m. tipoff with Bemidji State University will wrap up the American Family Insurance Classic in Duluth, Minnesota tomorrow, November 12^th. Live coverage links are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.