SAN ANGELO, Texas — Southern Arkansas' Men's Basketball group made the journey to Angelo State University on Saturday in which the Muleriders' first-year head coach Mark Rutledge faced his former team in a very familiar setting to him. Southern Arkansas made its first proper road trip of the season to the Lone Star and unfortunately did not come out on top as the Muleriders were defeated by the Rams 65-71 in a competitive matchup in Central West Texas. The loss drops the Muleriders to 3-3 on the season as they prepare to head back on the road for central Oklahoma and Great American Conference action against Southern Nazarene on Thursday and Oklahoma Baptist on Saturday.
The Blue and Gold obtained the advantage about as early as you could have with a three-pointer by senior guard BJ Davis for the game-opening score. However, Angelo State countered right back and captured the lead back with pair of layups. SAU came back with a layup with a shooting foul that propelled Rashad Bishop to make the and one free throw. The Rams then tied the contest at 6 and contained the Muleriders offense as ASU would hold the lead for the remainder of the first half, up by as much as ten points (30-20). Southern Arkansas ended the half on a tip-in dunk by Bishop to close the gap to a 30-23 outing.
While the Rams stretched the lead to as much as 11 points (43-32), Rutledge's Muleriders never quit as they fired off a 14-2 run to reclaim the lead at the 9:12 mark in the second half, much like the events from inside the W.T. Watson Center last Saturday. A Chase Jenkins three-pointer was the final shot for SAU to claim a lead (50-49) before the Rams would take the advantage back and not look back as the group would jump out to another ten-point lead. Southern Arkansas continued to attempted to ship away at the deficit, but came up short with the final of 65-71.
Leading the Muleriders in scoring was the senior out of Nashville, Tennessee, BJ Davis as he scored 16 points (season-high) after making 50% from the field (5-10) and 3-7 from beyond the arc. The Music City native was 3-3 at the charity stripe for the game and accounted for three rebounds and assists.
