Courtesy SAU Athletics Department
DURANT, Okla. – Southern Arkansas couldn’t recover from a poor first half as host Southeastern Oklahoma State held on for a 68-59 win in Great American Conference play Thursday at Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
The Savage Storm (8-3, 4-1 GAC) added to the Muleriders’ misery with five players scoring in double-figures, led by Andris Misters’ 14 points. Mateus Oliveira and Antonio Worthy scored 12 points each, and Chris Roussell and Travis Timmons finished with 11 apiece.
Junior forward Tevin Worthy (Little Rock) scored 13 points for SAU (5-5, 2-3 GAC), and junior guard Darrin Johnson (Chicago, Ill.) had 10.
Southern Arkansas hit only nine field goals in the first half and committed 10 turnovers.
Misters hit consecutive three-pointers to open the game for a 6-0 start for Southeastern. The Muleriders battled back though, claiming its only lead of the game at 12-11 on a trey from senior guard Daviel Clements (Jesup, Ga.) at 12:24.
The Savage Storm reclaimed a 22-16 advantage later, before Johnson’s dunk pulled SAU to within 22-20 at 6:33. Southern Arkansas went stone-cold at that point though, going the next six minutes without a field goal as Southeastern Oklahoma used a 14-2 run for a 36-22 game with 43 ticks left in the first half. Junior guard Jamail Turner (Swainsboro, Ga.) finally broke the drought with a lay-up and an ensuing free throw with 23 seconds left to cut it to 36-25 at the half.
The Savage Storm eventually ran it to a 54-37 advantage with nine minutes remaining in the game, but the Muleriders cut it to seven-point margins twice in the final three minutes before they ran out of time.
SAU shot 37 percent for the game on 20 of 54, including 5 of 21 three-pointers, and were 14 of 16 (87.5 percent) at the foul line.
Southeastern finished at 41.2 percent on 21 of 51, with 7 of 18 treys, and 19 of 30 (63.3 percent) free throws.
The Savage Storm used its size advantage for a 37-33 rebound margin and forced 17 Southern Arkansas turnovers that they converted to 19 points. Southeastern Oklahoma had 15 turnovers.
Oliveira finished with a game-high nine rebounds, while Roussell pulled down seven. Junior forward Nigel Jones (Wadley, Ala.) had seven boards for the Muleriders, and Worthy grabbed six.
SAU is now winless in three attempts against Oklahoma schools in GAC play, also dropping league games to Northwestern and Southwestern Oklahoma State. They get the chance to stop that skid Saturday when they travel to Ada, Okla., for a 4 p.m. conference tip-off with East Central.
Loading ...
