MAGNOLIA, Ark. - Carel Ray Jr. delivered a career-high 29 points, the most by a Mulerider since 2017, and Southern Arkansas nearly completed a second-half comeback on Saturday afternoon inside the W.T. Watson Center in a tightly-contested ball game that featured seven lead changes and three tied scores. The Muleriders were edged by league-leading Southeastern Oklahoma 73-71 and now fall to 9-13 overall, 7-9 in Great American Conference action and are in a four-way tie for sixth place in the league standings.
 
Ray didn't leave the floor for the Muleriders as he shot 11-for-21 with three makes from deep and four made free throws, while nearly putting together a double double with nine rebounds. Cedric Garrett and Nevi Tell both followed with nine points and Tell flirted with a triple double with six assists and six rebounds.
 
Over two-thirds of Southern Arkansas' points came inside as the Muleriders scored 50 paint points in the loss. SAU won the rebound battle at +11 and allowed only seven offensive rebounds. However, SOSU nearly shot 55% from the floor and SAU struggled from deep making just three of 16 attempts from beyond-the-arc.
 
SAU trailed by just two points at the intermission and would fall behind by 11 points through the first 10+ minutes of the second half. Trailing 58-46 with 8:02 to play, the Muleriders engineered an 11-2 run that started with consecutive inside buckets from Anthony Igiede to bring SAU to under ten points of the SOSU lead at 58-50. Ray converted an old-fashioned three-point play to cut the deficit to five points and following a steal by Tell, Ray scored on an up-and-under to pull the Muleriders to within a possession of the Savage Storm advantage.
 
Ray would then make one of two free throws and follow that up with a lay to cap a personal 8-0 run moments before a free throw by Garrett cut the SOSU lead to a single point at 60-59 with 4:41 to play. A minute and a half later, Ray nailed a trifecta attempt to again pull SAU to within one point of the lead following a SOSU three-point make.
 
Southeastern, who was led by 18 points from Brennan Burns, used a jumper by their leading scorer to grow the lead to four points and then twice needed a pair of free throws from the guard to put away the Muleriders.
 
Southern Arkansas returns to action on Thursday, February 15 for a matchup with bitter league rival Arkansas-Monticello inside the W.T. Watson Center. Start time is set for 7:30 p.m. Live coverage links are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.