DURANT, Okla. - Thursday night's Great American Conference matchup inside Bloomer Sullivan Arena went the way of host (RV) Southeastern Oklahoma, but not without a hot shooting night from Southern Arkansas. The Muleriders shot 51.7% from the floor and matched that effort from three-point range as second-year head coach
Logan Quinn's squad finished a made three-pointer away from matching the single-game record of 16, but the Savage Storm managed to put down the visitors at the charity stripe in a 88-82 SE victory. The fast-paced contest was highlighted by nine tied scores and four lead changes and a collective 22 made three-point shots. The loss drops the Muleriders to 4-9 overall, 2-5 in GAC action and increases the losing skid to five games, while SE took outright second place in the league standings with an overall mark of 9-6 and a 5-2 record in conference play.
Four Muleriders hit at least three trifectas with senior
Gregory Hammond Jr. nailing four of his seven attempts from deep. True freshman
Anthony Igiede, junior
Jaren Harris and senior
Cedric Garrett each nailed three shots from beyond-the-arc with senior
Carel Ray Jr. knocking down two. Ray led all players with 25 points on 11-of-23 shooting to go along with eight rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block. Hammond followed with 16 points and eight boards, four assists, one steal and a block. Igiede added 14 points and the Muleriders received 11 points each from Harris and Garrett.
The Muleriders hit season-highs in assists (19), three pointers made (15) and points against a Division II opponent (82) and matched its season-high in shots made (30). SAU hit 16 three-pointers last season to tie the single-game record at Southeastern Oklahoma which stands as the most by a Mulerider hardwood squad on the road. Additionally, SAU matched a season-low in offensive rebounding (7) and total rebounding (27) due to its second-highest overall shooting clip and three-point shooting clip this season.
Southern Arkansas trailed 47-40 at the half following an opening twenty minutes that saw the Muleriders make nine of its 16 shots from three-point range and 15-of-27 overall. After the intermission, SE increased its advantage to just nine points three minutes in, but the Muleriders engineered a 6-0 run with three free throws by Igiede and an and-1 bucket by Ray to pull within 55-52 at the 14:56 mark. That 6-0 advantage was part of a 14-5 run for Southern Arkansas that saw Ray again score inside, before consecutive three balls from the stroke of Garrett knotted the contest at 60.
After a pair of technical free throws pushed SE back out front at 62-60, Igiede then bottomed a trifecta attempt on an assist by Ray to give SAU a 63-60 advantage. SAU clamped down on the perimeter in the second half allowing just one Savage Storm make in seven attempts. Late three point makes by Ray and Garrett and a drive inside by true freshman
Nevi Tell, all in the final minute, each brought SAU to within four points of the SE lead, but the Savage Storm shot 9-of-10 from the stripe in the final three minutes of action and kept SAU scoreless from the 7:39 mark to the 2:26 mark.
SAU travels north into Ada for a Saturday afternoon tip-off against the third-place Tigers of East Central. Start time is set for 3 p.m. Live coverage links are available at
www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
