Williams Baptist College gave Southern Arkansas all it wanted in the first half, but the Muleriders took control over the final 20 minutes.
"Coming off an emotional loss, I was proud of the way we stuck with it. We didn't open the game well and was a little sluggish," said Muleriders head coach Andy Sharpe.
SAU (2-2) put things together in the second half and cruised to a 94-68 win over the Eagles (3-1) at the W.T. Watson Athletic Center.
"Williams Baptist did a great job. They stick with what they do, but our guys found a way to battle through it in the second half," said Sharpe.
The Muleriders got off to a quick 5-0 start, but the Eagles scored seven unanswered points to make it 7-5.
SAU regrouped and eventually went up by 10, 23-13, with 7:53 to play in the opening half.
The teams combined for eight 3-pointers over the next four minutes, with SAU's Jaron Davis and WBC's Reece Dunlap, a former Mulerider, doing the damage
The Muleriders led by 12, 25-13, at the 7:04 mark, but the lead was down to five, 31-26, with four minutes on the clock.
Davis helped the home team go up by 10 with two minutes showing and the Eagles trailed 42-33 at half-time.
The Muleriders used a 13-0 run in the second half to put the game out of reach.
Behind the play of C.J. Elkins, SAU led 60-46 with 11:26 to play in the contest.
The Muleriders went on to lead by 28, 85-57, late in the battle.
"C.J., a local product from Minden, has a tremendous future ahead of him. I am really proud of how all the guys finished tonight," said the coach.
Davis led the team in scoring with 20 points, while Deon Andrews followed with 18. Elkins finished with 16 and Alvin Braddock added 15. Dunlap paced the Eagles with 15 and Tevin Howard added 10.
The Muleriders controlled the boards, out-rebounding the Eagles by 20, 46-26.
SAU shot 46 percent from 3-point range, hitting 13-of-28 attempts.
Andrew led the way with six 3-pointers, while Davis followed with four.
"A lot of teams will play more zone to try and take Jaron out of his game. But when Deon and C.J. are on their games like they were tonight, we are difficult to stop," explained Sharpe, adding that Kevin Jordan and Tony Aska made key plays underneath.
"We have a small room for error. Everyone needs to play well and produce. If we can do that consistently, we can be a good ball club," said Sharpe.
He mentioned that Muleriders have not begun to scratch the surface on just how good they can be.
"We are still trying to figure out just how to play together. We have some guys who are trying to get use to playing with a point guard who is also a scorer," he added.
SAU will return to its home court Saturday against Champion Baptist College.
Tip-off is set for 4 p.m.