Keyon Thomas/Men's Basketball | East Central Oklahoma University
Keyon Thomas/Men's Basketball | East Central Oklahoma University
The East Central University men's basketball team faced Southern Arkansas University for a road GAC matchup, falling to the Muleriders 74-65 Thursday night.
The loss drops the Tigers 7-6 overall and 2-6 in conference play.
"We just weren't quite good enough tonight," Head Coach Daniel Wheeler said. "Southern Arkansas is a good team, and Coach Quinn is doing a great job. Southern Arkansas had us on our heels the entire second half. We have to learn from this and respond. This group will."
ECU struck first to get on the scoreboard, but SAU quickly answered back with an 8-0 scoring run to take an early lead. The Muleriders were up 20-15 midway through the opening half before the Tigers battled back to take the lead 29-28 on a jumper from Keyon Thomas. A 7-2 run in the final three minutes gave ECU a 36-30 lead going into halftime.
The second half was a slow start for the Tigers as the Muleriders took advantage of a 9-0 run to go up 39-36. Both teams would go back-and-forth trading points, but SAU held on and managed to break away 67-54, their largest lead of the night, with under seven minutes to go. In the end, SAU held the Tigers at bay the rest of the way and finished with a 74-65 victory over ECU.
Four Tigers scored in double-figures - Keyon Thomas, Jakeem Acres, Luke Harper, and Quinton Johnson II.
Thomas and Acres led the way with 13 points each. Thomas was 6-for-16 from the field and added six rebounds, while Acres shot 5-of-11 from the floor and added four rebounds.
Harper was next with 11 points going 4-for-7 from the field and dishing out a team-high five assists while Johnson finished with 10 points and adding a team-high eight rebounds.
Original source can be found here
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