SHAWNEE, Okla. – You wrote 'em off. You did. It's okay to admit it. Most in attendance for game one of session two in the opening round of Great American Conference Tournament action on Thursday evening from inside FireLake Arena felt it was just a matter of time before top seeded Southeastern Oklahoma advanced to Saturday's semifinal after leading eight seed Southern Arkansas by 14 at the break and building that advantage to as much as 23 points nearly six minutes in post-intermission.
However, Southern Arkansas didn't write Southern Arkansas off as the Muleriders, under the leadership of second-year head coach Logan Quinn, delivered a season-high 55 second-half points and scratched together a hot rally over the game's final 14 minutes of play to pull within five points of the SE lead with just 45 seconds remaining. The deficit was just too large for SAU as Southeastern Oklahoma used a jailbreak layup late and three of four makes from the stripe to win by eight points, 94-86, and advance in the league tournament. The Muleriders' season comes to an end at 11-18 overall with an invite to the GAC's postseason party for the 13th consecutive season.
Without the GAC's third-leading scorer and top rebounder in Carel Ray Jr. and one of the league's most dynamic freshman in Nevi Tell, the Muleriders carried on business as usual and fought the Savage Storm possession-for-possession despite some early misses from the floor that led to SE grabbing a double-digit lead.
In the final 14 minutes of play, Southern Arkansas outscored Southeastern Oklahoma 43-29 as part of a second half effort that saw the visitors shoot 55.56% (20-for-36) from the floor and 42.86% (6-for-14) from three-point range, while managing to produce nearly enough defensive stands to climb all the way back into the contest. SE shot 81.8% from the stripe making 18 of its 22 attempts, while Southern Arkansas was unable to convert two and-1 opportunities and the front end of another two-shot trip over 1:11 of play in the final four minutes of action.
During that +14 run by Southern Arkansas, the Muleriders used runs of 7-0 run and 7-2 to bring the SE lead back down to around a dozen through the eight-minute mark of the season half. Anthony Igiede nailed a three-point bucket with 6:11 to play that again brought the deficit back around 12 points at a baker's dozen and the redshirt freshman followed with a drive inside and utilized a friendly rim for a roll to draw the Muleriders to within 11 points at 80-69 with 4:47 remaining.
Gregory Hammond Jr. scored inside on a drive which cued the final media stoppage, Cedric Garrett delivered a response to an SE bucket with a three-ball and Hammond used another drive to the hole as the Muleriders pulled to within six points at the 3:01 mark. Joe Holloway, who notched career-highs in minutes played (17), shot attempts (4), shots made (2), rebounds (3) and points (6), made one of two from the line to push SAU to within five points and Igiede brought it back to five on the next trip down to follow an SE basket. However, in the final 90 seconds a wide-open corner three from Jett Sternberger kept the Savage Storm a notch out of striking distance despite a late bucket from the wing by Mohamed Traore in the final twenty seconds.
Hammond and Garrett each played 37 minutes. Hammond shot 10-for-22 and finished with 28 points, five rebounds, five assists, four blocks and a steal. Garrett led with four made three-pointers and scored 19 points to go along with 11 rebounds in a double double effort which also saw two assists and a steal. Igiede followed with 16 points and seven rebounds, two assists, two blocks and two steals. Traore scored nine points and Christian Caldwell, a game time decision as a paint presence for SAU, added eight points and nine rebounds in a gutsy effort.
SAU's 32 made field goals in the loss are a season high as are the six swatted shot attempts. The Muleriders delivered its third-straight game crossing over 80 points marking the first time the program has seen three or more consecutive 80+ point performances since late November, early December of 2021.
Southern Arkansas jumped out to a 5-0 advantage through the game's first two minutes as Garrett led the way with a pair of buckets, but Southeastern Oklahoma engineered a 15-2 run over six minutes of play to take a 15-7 lead at the under-12 media timeout. During that run, the Muleriders were plagued by five turnovers, which SE turned into eight points, and made just one shot in seven attempts.
Buckets by Caldwell and Hammond allowed the Muleriders to bring the deficit to just four points, but the Savage Storm remained a step ahead of the eight seed in a quickly-played first half of action that saw just three combined trips to the charity stripe.
Trailing 37-23 with just over three minutes to play before the intermission, the Muleriders used netted attempts from range by Garrett and Hammond. Garrett's came courtesy of an offensive rebound from Jessie Davis Jr. and then the former assisted Hammond on the following possession for SAU's fifth made shot from beyond-the-arc. Prior to the back-to-back trifectas, Igiede (6:18) and Hammond (4:12) both hit threes to bring the deficit back to nine points each time.
In the final moments of the first half, the Muleriders produced a stop on what appeared to be SE's final possession of the half, but a tough no-call on the other end left the door open for the Savage Storm to score a late coast-to-coast bucket on a four-point swing in the final seconds as SE carried a 45-31 lead at the break.
Garrett led SAU in the first half with 11 points as he made all four of his shots. SAU received eight points from Hammond, six from Caldwell, four from Igiede and a bucket by Traore.
