MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Good ball movement: 17 assists. Efficient three-point shooting: ten made three-pointers for the third time in the last four games. A relentless rebounding effort: finished +11 in rebound margin, grabbed 15 offensive rebounds and scored 22 second-chance points. That straightforwardly sums up Southern Arkansas' performance on Monday night inside the W.T. Watson Center as "Date Night at W.T." ended with the Muleriders cruising by bitter league rival Arkansas-Monticello 71-55 in Great American Conference action to pick up its fourth straight win. The victory moves SAU's overall mark to 15-9 with an 11-7 standing in league play.
 
American patriot Ben Franklin was noted, among other things, for his longstanding quote concerning life's only certainties being death and taxes. However, had ole Ben witnessed the Brooks brothers play on the hardwood, he certainly would have added "Jalen's glass cleaning" and "Devante's double doubles" and vice versa to that quote.
 
Junior combo Jalen Brooks delivered 14 points on an efficient 5-for-6 shooting, but his most important contribution to Monday's victory came on the glass. A prowess for grabbing boards, J. Brooks did just that as he collected a dozen with eight of those coming on the offensive end of the floor. For the 16^th time this season, senior forward Devante Brooks supplied a double double with 11 points and 13 rebounds
 
In a span of 45 seconds just before the under-16 media timeout of the second half, J. Brooks cleaned up a contested miss, was fouled and made one of two, while the miss was then rebounded by Devante to keep the possession with the Muleriders. J. Brooks then grabbed another SAU miss that led to him assisting junior guard Blake Rogers on a triple try, one of five second-half trifectas for the Muleriders in the win, which put SAU up 41-31. Rogers finished with a dozen points on four makes from deep.
 
The very next possession for the Muleriders, J. Brooks scooped up back-to-back three-point misses to keep alive a possession that ended with Lucas driving inside to give Southern Arkansas a 43-31 lead with 15:33 remaining. Five of J. Brooks' offensive rebounds led to points for SAU.
 
First half action saw three tied scores and two lead changes in the first six and a half minutes of play. Senior guard Aaron Lucas, who matched J. Brooks' scoring output with 14 points, nailed an attempt from three-point range that gave the Muleriders the last lead it would need on Monday up 13-12 at the 13:36 mark of the opening half. The make? Made possible on an offensive rebound by J. Brooks.
 
Lucas and Rogers each dished four helpers, junior guard Tyler Garrett followed with three and five other players accounted for at least one as the Muleriders' 17 assists are the second-most against a Division II opponent this season. SAU shot over 35% from range, made 11 of its 13 free throws and withstood a 45% shooting clip by the Weevils that included eighth makes in 18 tries from beyond-the-arc.
 
Southern Arkansas prepares for its final swing into Oklahoma as a pair of top 10 regionally-ranked opponents stare down the Muleriders as they cross state lines. The Muleriders meet Southern Nazarene in Bethany on Thursday, February 17 at 7:30 p.m. Two days later, they battle in Shawnee against Oklahoma Baptist in a 3 p.m. tip-off. Live coverage links for both contests are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.