MONTICELLO, Ark. - Graduate guard Brock Schreiner knocked down a triple try, his only attempt of the game, with 2:04 remaining in Monday night's Great American Conference matchup against Arkansas-Monticello to tie the back-and-forth game, which featured ten ties and eight lead changes, at 59 and then delivered the game-winning assist on a tough inside basket by Gregory Hammond Jr. with less than six seconds to play as the Muleriders engineered a late push to overcome a pesky Weevil squad and a claim a 65-61 victory on Rivalry Monday. 

With just over a minute to play and after the Weevils regained the lead at 61-59, Carel Ray Jr. drove inside and used a soft floater to knot the league affair for the eighth time in the second half. A tough defensive effort by the Muleriders on the other end of the floor forced UAM to come away empty and set the stage for Hammond's basket on a 12-point night. 

Southern Arkansas struggled to get into a rhythm in the first half which saw the Muleriders shoot 35% from the floor with only three of its 14 attempts from three-point range finding the bottom of the net. SAU defended well in the first half forcing the host into a 32% shooting clip in the opening twenty minutes and the Weevils connected on just four of its 15 attempts from beyond-the-arc. 

UAM finished +2 in total rebounding and +4 in points in the paint for the game, but it was SAU's hot shooting in the second half that proved the difference in the win. The Muleriders shot 60% from the floor following the intermission and all six of its made threes in the half were critical. The first immediately gave SAU a 28-26 lead out of the break as Blake Rogers hammered one home to jumpstart the scoring for the visitors. With just under 11 minutes to play, Jerry Carraway found the bottom of the twine on a fastbreak trifecta off of a steal from Schreiner. A little over 60 seconds later, Rogers assisted Carraway who connected again to push SAU up 46-45. At the 8:13 mark and with UAM up four, LaTreavin Black found Hammond Jr. who hit a three-pointer to pull the deficit to a single point. Two and a half minutes later, Rogers scored from deep again as Schreiner assisted to keep the Muleriders within striking distance at 54-52. 

SAU made all four of its free throw attempts on the night and did not attempt a shot from the charity stripe until just south of the under-12 media timeout in the second half. Ray Jr. hit the first two to tie the game at 40 and nailed the last two to put the game away in the waning seconds. It was just the second time this season that the Muleriders attempted fewer than 10 free throws in a game.

SAU only turned the ball over nine times which matches a season low done two other times this campaign. Hammond Jr., Rogers and Black all finished in double-figure scoring. Schreiner and Hammond Jr. each led with five rebounds, while Schreiner delivered four of SAU's 11 helpers with none bigger than his last. 

The Muleriders head back to Oklahoma for a tough two-game stretch against Oklahoma Baptist (Thursday, Jan. 26 - 7:30 p.m.) and Southern Nazarene (Saturday, Jan. 28 - 3 p.m.). The Bison are 10-7 overall and tied for fourth in the GAC at 7-4. The Crimson Storm lead the conference with a league mark of 10-1 and have won four straight to run the overall record to 14-3. Live coverage links for both contests are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.