The Arkansas Pine-Bluff Golden Lions pulled off an impressive 78-76 upset against the SMU Mustangs on Monday night. The Golden Lions sat in the driver's seat for much of the game, controlling the pace and forcing the Mustangs to play their style of basketball. The upset continues a recent streak of HBCU basketball squads defeating teams from bigger conferences.

The game actually started in the Mustangs favor. SMU began the first quarter on an 8-2 run. In response, the Golden Lions went on a 14-4 run of their own in the latter half of the quarter. Arkansas Pine-Bluff continually created turnovers and missed shots, and they even held their opponent scoreless for almost five-and-a-half minutes before Mustang Maya Chandler made a layup at the very end of the quarter to break the ice.

SMU began to fight back in the second quarter, this time holding the Golden Lions scoreless for the first four-and-a-half minutes. Arkansas Pine-Bluff guard Zaay Green took over in the second quarter, but not in the traditional way. Instead of lighting the Mustangs up with her scoring, she diced them up with passes to open teammates for assists. Green got four assists in just the second quarter alone. Her first assist, a three-pointer from Kalia Walker, helped break the scoring lull at the beginning of the quarter. A dish to Jelissa Reese for a layup gave the Golden Lions the 23-21 lead, and her final assist of the half was to Walker for another three-point bomb. Arkansas Pine-Bluff went into half time with a 31-23 lead.

Consecutive jumpers created the biggest lead of the game coming out of the break – a 35-23 advantage for the then 2-6 Golden Lions. SMU would spend the rest of the third quarter chiseling away at the 12-point deficit. They briefly reclaimed the lead following a pair of free throws from Tiara Young, but Arkansas Pine-Bluff took it back for the rest of the quarter.

In the final quarter of play, the two teams continued to battle. Eventually, Arkansas Pine-Bluff began to pull away. An 8-2 run helped them take a 71-60 lead with a little over three minutes remaining. The Mustangs wouldn't go away as they mounted their own 9-4 run to cut the lead to 75-70 with a minute to go. Due to missed free throws from Green, SMU had a shot to tie the game. Both Jiya Perry and Chantae Embry had looks at the basket, but neither of their attempts went in. Green made her final set of free throws, effectively ending the game as the Golden Lions held a four-point lead with six seconds to go. Reagan Bradley made a last-second layup, but her Mustangs still fell short.

Tiara Young bolstered an impressive stat line for her SMU Mustangs. She had 22 points, six rebounds, two assists, and two steals, and she shot 7-14 from the field. Chantae Embry made three of her six three-point attempts en route to 17 points. Amirah Abdur-Rahim, the sister of the 13-year NBA veteran Shareef Abdur-Rahim, had 10 points, five rebounds, and two assists.

Zaay Green played all 40 minutes for the Arkansas Pine-Bluff Golden Lions. In that time, she tallied 23 points, nine assists, and eight rebounds, nearly securing a triple-double. Kalia Walker, the recipient of many of Green's assists, made four of five three-pointers for 12 points in 39 minutes. Maya Peat was active on both ends, chipping in with 11 points, three rebounds, two blocks, and three steals.

The Golden Lions stay in the Lone Star State as they take on the North Texas Mean Green on Dec. 6.