MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Senior guard Blake Rogers led two other Muleriders with career-high scoring nights as the Starkville, Mississippi native delivered 27 points to spark Southern Arkansas past Drury in nonconference action on Monday evening from inside the W.T. Watson Center. The Muleriders trailed by four points at the intermission, but used a big second half, which saw nine lead changes, on both ends of the floor to dismiss the Panthers and improve to 7-3 overall as the 2022 portion of the schedule comes to an end.
 
Southern Arkansas opened on an 11-0 run to start the game powered by nine points, all triple tries, from the trigger of Kris Wyche. The largest lead of the first half for SAU stood at a dozen points and came in the form of a 26-14 advantage with 9:14 to play before the break. Drury pulled as close as four points before the Muleriders managed to build that dozen-point lead halfway through the opening twenty minutes.
 
The Panthers answered with a 15-4 run down through the under-four media timeout to climb back to within a single point of the lead at 30-29. Drury took advantage inside driving to the basket to get much of their offense during the +11 sequence over six-plus minutes of play. The Muleriders managed just two free throws in split possessions and a basket by Blake Rogers during the DU run.
 
A string of threes allowed the Panthers to gain its first lead of the night which came with less than two minutes remaining before the half and Drury would carry a 43-39 advantage into the intermission.
 
Whatever was said in the halftime locker room about the less than ideal way the Muleriders concluded the first half of action was taken to heart. Southern Arkansas entered the final twenty minutes of play motivated and it showed immediately.
 
Rogers drained a trifecta to open scoring for the Muleriders in the final period and followed a Drury bucket with another triple try to knot the game at 45 at the 18:23 mark of the second half. LaTreavin Black scored inside on a contested effort and Rogers followed with a paint jumper as the Muleriders engineered a 10-1 run through the half's first two and a half minutes to regain the lead at 49-45.
 
The Muleriders finished +10 in rebounding and +18 in points in the paint, but what was delivered to the hoop inside on Monday night was certainly earned as contested drive after contested drive from multiple Muleriders resulted in points.
 
Drury would use the three ball, to the tune of 17 makes in the loss, to retake the lead, but prior to the under-12 media timeout, Southern Arkansas took advantage of a trio of technical fouls on the Panthers' bench that resulted in three makes by Wyche at the stripe as the Muleriders lead grew to seven at 61-54 with 12:16 remaining.
 
Drury would not go away quietly as the Panthers again scratched back to take a 64-63 lead with 8:50 to play. It would be the last lead of the night for the visitors as Gregory Hammond Jr. hit a shot from range to trigger a 16-6 run by the Muleriders which were led by Rogers with seven points. SAU's lead would get as high as a dozen points late in the second half as Rogers, Hammond Jr. and Wyche all answered Drury three-point makes with buckets of their own in the final 5:30 of play.
 
SAU shot 48% from both the floor (31-64) and from beyond-the-arc (12-25) in the win. Rogers' career night came on 10-17 shooting with a 50% (4-8) clip from deep. He added four rebounds, two assists and a steal in a team-high 33 minutes of work. Wyche's career-high 20 points, his fifth-game with 10+ points, included the aforementioned early nine and he finished an effective 5-7 with all five makes coming from three-point range to go along with a 5-6 effort from the stripe. He chipped in with three assists and two rebounds. Black added 15 points and again finished with a hefty state line as he contributed seven rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Hammond Jr.'s dozen points were added to six rebounds, two assists, one block and a steal. Jessie Davis Jr. delivered a team-high eight rebounds including five on the offensive glass. Brock Schreiner recorded a third of SAU's 15 assists.
 
The Muleriders will enjoy a two and a half week hiatus before resuming action in the New Year. Southern Arkansas resumes conference play with the first two of 18 Great American Conference games to close out the regular season. The Muleriders will endure the Alva-Weatherford swing as they cross over into the Sooner State for league affairs on Thursday, January 5 (Northwestern Oklahoma State) and Saturday, January 7 (Southwestern Oklahoma State). Live coverage links will be available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.