SHAWNEE, Okla. – SAU's Carel Ray Jr.'s knocked down four 3-pointers and finished with 16 points to lead the Muleriders (14-4, 10-2 GAC) to an 88-83 victory over Oklahoma Baptist Thursday night.
SAU will play at Southern Nazarene in Bethany, Okla., today beginning with the women's contest at 1 p.m. The Muleriders and Crimson Storm will play at 3 p.m.
In the men's battle with Oklahoma Baptist, Southern Arkansas led by 15 points on three different occasions through the first nine and a half minutes of the second half. The Bison managed to pull to within six points seven different times which included cutting the lead to five or less twice in the final minute.
Gregory Hammond Jr. knocked down his only second-half shot in a double-double effort with a triple try just south of the eight-minute mark that pushed SAU back up nine at 73-64. Two and half minutes later and with OBU again cutting the lead down to six, Ray Jr. knocked down an attempt from distance to cushion the Muleriders' lead at 76-67 with 5:28 to play.
Jerry Carraway Jr. hit two free throws with under three minutes to play that again erased another OBU six-point deficit. Twice in the final 1:39 of play, Blake Rogers got loose on an in-bounds play and scored a key bucket with the second one coming in transition on a long pass down the floor the sent SAU up 85-77 with 1:22 to play. In the end, it was a free throw by Carraway that kept the lead at six with 20 seconds remaining and two makes from the charity stripe by Wyche in the final ten seconds that secured SAU's tenth GAC victory; the tenth-consecutive season with ten or more league wins.
Lady Bison 73, Lady Muleriders 64
The Lady Muleriders (8-10, 4-8 GAC) came up short 73-64 to the Lady Bison, with Mychala Linzy led with15 points.The senior led a final push in the fourth quarter, making four threes to contribute 12 of the 16 Lady Mulerider points. Freshman Brooklin Brown recorded double digits with 14 points and senior Jessica Jones scored 12, her most since December 19. Freshman Marlee Bright recorded four steals between the Mulerider's 17 forced turnovers.
SAU attempted their most 3-pointers since December 19 and landed 15 to record double digits after making less than ten their last three games.