MAGNOLIA, Ark. - Sometimes down, but never out. Trailing Henderson State 45-25 with 18 minutes to play, Southern Arkansas engaged a furious rally capped by a crowd-stimulating and-1 sequence from senior
Carel Ray Jr. with ten seconds remaining that gave the Muleriders a late 67-66 advantage and then manufactured a stop by redshirt freshman
Anthony Igiede on the other end of the floor to preserve the win in the Great American Conference opener on Thursday night inside a rocking W.T. Watson Center. The victory evens SAU's overall record at 3-3 and positions them in the win column in league play. Henderson State falls to 1-3 overall and 0-1 in league action.
It might have been ugly on multiple occasions throughout the 40 minutes of action, but for the Muleriders, it looked good when it mattered most. After a sluggish start that saw SAU trail by as much as 16 points in the first half and then go down by 20 not too long after the second half start, Southern Arkansas engineered a turnaround that won't long be forgotten for the 500+ in attendance.
In the final 18 minutes, the Muleriders outscored the Reddies inside 24-14, finished +7 in second-chance points, +5 in points off turnovers and connected on a dozen of its 15 attempts from the charity stripe Ray's go-ahead in the final ten seconds.
A pair of free throws by Igiede, who went 5-for-5 from the line to improve to 26-for-27 on the season, with 9:32 remaining cut SAU's deficit to six.
Christian Caldwell made the second of two attempts moments later before
Mohamed Traore scored inside as SAU climbed all the way back to three down with just over eight minutes to play.
Malek Davis held the Muleriders off with consecutive three-point heat checks following an Igiede trifecta and the Reddies' lead stood at six, 61-55, at the 5:15 mark of the second half. Backdown baskets by Ray and Davis brought SAU back to three points of the lead as the two makes sandwiched a free throw by HSU. Moments later and following an inside second-chance bucket by Tomislav Miholjcic, Davis made the first of two free throws as the lead was again cut down to four at 64-60. He followed that with a sky jumper that chipped the HSU advantage to a single bucket, but the Reddies answered with 1:09 left to go back up four.
Igiede scored on a drive inside with 46 seconds left and then Davis stuffed a shot attempt on the ensuing end with under twenty seconds to play as the late game heroics were officially underway.
Ray led with 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting. He added seven rebounds as did
Nevi Tell who scored six key points off of the bench. Igiede followed with 14 points, three boards, an assist, one steal and a block. Traore, who did not leave the floor for SAU in the win, finished with ten points, five rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block. Caldwell added seven points, three rebounds and three steals.
His name won't immediately pop out when glancing at the post game box score, but Thursday night does not go the way of the Muleriders without the re-emergence of senior
Jessie Davis Jr. The Shreveport native reactivated his final year of eligibility earlier in the week and then proceeded to deliver ten points, five rebounds and two blocks off of the
couch bench.
Ray led SAU with seven first-half points as the Muleriders shot 34.5% from the floor with three less attempts than Henderson State's first-half effort which resulted in an overall clip of 46.9%. Southern Arkansas struggled from three-point range connecting on just one of its dozen attempts from deep. Traore opened scoring at the 17:46 mark with a corner trifecta off of a
Jaren Harris assist, but the Muleriders would miss their next 11 from beyond-the-arc.
In addition to the solid shooting, HSU was aided by +6 in points off turnovers and +8 in paint points. SAU committed 11 turnovers in the opening twenty with its opposition turning it over just four times.
The second half fight was evident for SAU as the squad still struggled from deep, connecting on only three of its 18 attempts for the game.
The Muleriders' attention turns to Sunday in Searcy where Harding awaits in a 5 p.m. tip-off from inside Rhodes Reaves Fieldhouse. Live coverage links are available at
www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
