KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Southern Arkansas Men's Basketball suffered a pair of losses over the weekend at the Central Region Tip-Off Challenge from inside Kansas City's Municipal Auditorium. The Muleriders, under second-year head coach Logan Quinn, dropped its season opener 90-70 to (RV) Minnesota State on Friday, November 10 and was edged 68-62 by Winona State on Saturday, November 11. It was the first meeting for SAU against either Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference opponent.
 
In their opener, the Muleriders responded to a 17-point halftime deficit with a pair of second-half runs that brought SAU to within eight points of the Mavericks' lead. The Muleriders' largest lead of the game was five points at 11-6 six minutes into the game. In the final 6:30 of play, MSU engineered a 23-8 run to build a comfortable halftime advantage.
 
Minnesota State shot 50% from the floor and made 11 of its 29 attempts from three-point range, while only making three trips to the foul line. SAU shot 41% and made just six of its two dozen shots from beyond-the-arc. The Muleriders converted 77.8% of their 18 attempts from the stripe.
 
In his Mulerider debut, junior Christian Caldwell delivered a team-high 18 points with four rebounds and an assist. Gregory Hammond Jr. followed with 15 points and six rebounds. He accounted for half of SAU's makes from three-point range. Micah Lena scored a dozen points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds in his first action for SAU. True freshman Nevi Tell led SAU with a pair of steals and three assists as he became the first true freshman to start a season opener in the program's GAC Era. 
 
Against Winona State, the Muleriders held a 31-29 lead at the intermission behind 44.8% shooting from the floor in the first half. SAU held its advantage through the first four minutes of the second half, before the Warriors went 40-39 with 15:35 remaining. With the contest knotted at 46-all with just under 12 minutes to play, WSU used a 15-6 run to build a nine-point lead at the 6:13 mark. SAU battled back to cut the deficit to four on two occasions in the final four minutes, but the Warriors connected on five of six free throws to hold on for the win.
 
WSU's surge in the second half was powered by a 58.3% clip from the floor and the Warriors made ten of two dozen shot attempts from deep. SAU made two less three-point attempts than WSU in the same amount of tries within an overall shooting clip 41.4%.
 
Hammond Jr. scored 17 points with a team-high eight rebounds. Carel Ray Jr. followed with 12 points, six boards and an assist, while Anthony Igiede scored ten points with three rebounds, an assist, one block and a steal. Caldwell led with three blocks and first-year Mulerider Jaren Harris recorded three of SAU's ten assists.
 
Southern Arkansas' attention turns to Thursday night and the 2023-24 home opener. The Muleriders welcome Arlington Baptist into the W.T. Watson Center for a 7 p.m. tip-off and then will host Ecclesia College at 7 p.m. on Friday. Five of SAU's next six games are at home including four straight which leads into the start of Great American Conference play.  Live coverage links are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.