WICHITA, Kan. — Central Missouri Mules basketball defeated Newman 62-57 after a 40 minute battle that saw five lead changes and multiple ties. Senior guard Koray Gilbert led the Mules offense for the second-straight game with the team-high 14 points.
After Ja'Cor Nelson scored the opening points with a jumper in the paint, it was a point-for-point battle for the next 10 minutes following the tip-off.
Central Missouri's 14-10 lead with under 10 minutes left was answered with a 7-0 Jets.
The Jets saw their largest lead of the game with a 23-16 advantage over UCM with five minutes left to play in the first.
Gaven Pinkley and Easton Darling landed back-to-back threes which were followed up with a Luinstra jump shot to regain the lead at 24-23.
The Mules and Jets went into the break tied 26-26 for the Mules first halftime tie of the season.
The point-for-point battle continued into the final 20 as the scored was tied three different times in the first 10 minutes of the second half.
With under five minutes to play, Newman had a five-point advantage at 51-46.
A pair of free-throws by Cameron Hunter sparked a 10-0 Mules run to give them a 56-51 lead with under two minutes left to play.
Central Missouri hit 6-of-6 at the foul line in the final minutes to secure the victory over Newman.
Overall, the Mules shot 22-for-50 from the floor for 44%, 4-for-15 from the three-point range for 26.7%, and 14-for-16 at the line for 87.5%.
Similarly, the Jets finished 20-for-45 for 44.4% from the field, 7-for-23 from behind the arc for 30.4%, and 10-for-16 from the free-throw for 62.5%.
The defensive battle was just as close as the offensive one as the Mules collected just three more boards than the Jets at 30-27.
Mules basketball returns to action Thursday, Jan. 21st with a match up against Northeastern State to kick-off a four-game stint at home. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in the UCM Multipurpose Building.
