MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Southern Arkansas pulled away from Oklahoma Baptist in the second half to earn a 72-56 victory over the Bison on Thursday at W.T. Watson Athletic Center.
For the Muleriders, they improved to 8-1 all-time at home against the Bison who dropped to 12-7 overall and 9-4 in the Great American Conference.
In the first half, OBU's shooting missed the mark often. By the break, the green and gold had made nine of 36 shots for 25 percent while connecting on just one deep ball.
Compare that to the hosts who had a solid first 20 minutes, making 46 percent overall and 5-of-10 from deep.
Early on, SAU hit a pair of three-pointers before the Bison tied it at 6-6 with
Daniel Ransom scoring four of those points. What transpired after that was a 13-0 Muleriders run. The Bison missed all six of their shots and committed four turnovers. As for the hosts, Anthony Igiede and Zac Anthony drained a couple long shots while Marcus Rodgers and Rashad Bishop provided a bit more.
By the 10:40 mark of the first, Southern Arkansas led 19-6. At the conclusion of the half, the Muleriders saw their double-digit lead shrink to nine, 29-20, after a layup from
Terry Coner Jr. However, the Bison had five more shots in the final 1:52 of the half but could not pull closer than nine.
Inside of nine minutes in the second stanza, the Bison had kept pace with SAU and after a three-pointer from
Ethan Scott, one of three on the night for the redshirt sophomore, the Bison found themselves down 42-35.
However, from the 11:57 mark to 7:42, SAU hit the game-clinching stretch to sink OBU. Holding that seven-point advantage after Scott's three, the Muleriders went on a 16-5 stretch.
By the end of the run, an and-one conversion by Carel Ray Jr., SAU gained a 58-40 advantage and would not look back.
After the 40 minutes of competition, OBU's point total and three-point percentage (21.7), were its second-lowest marks of the season.
Ransom and Scott led OBU with 11 points apiece while
Joshua Udoumoh came off the bench to provide 10. On Saturday, the green and gold return to action for a 3 p.m. contest at Arkansas-Monticello.
