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WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- The Central Missouri Mules withstood a tough battle from Webster University and came away with a 67-62 season-opening win on Saturday afternoon at the UCM Multipurpose Building. The Gorloks led by as amny as 13 in the first half, but a 12-0 run to start the second half jump started the Mules.

The Mules (1-0) fell behind early, but used a 7-2 run to grab a 10-6 lead with 17:12 left in the first half. UCM was able to push the lead to five at 17-12 at the 13:00 mark, but a 7-1 run by Webster (0-1) pushed them into the lead at 19-18 midway through the stanza. Central Missouri regained the lead on a layup from Charles Hammork and again one possession later on a layup from Dominique Long, but a 13-2 run by the Gorloks gave WU a 34-24 lead with 3:15 left in the half.

The Mules got the lead to eight a couple of times, but a three by Ahmad Smith and a pair of free throws from Jarrod Huskey gave Webster a 41-28 lead with under a minute to play in the first half. Widgett Washington got a layup and free throw for a three-point play to pull the Mules within 10 at 41-31 at halftime.

UCM looked like a different team in the early going of the second half. Hammork scored on a driving layup on the first possession of the half to spark a 12-0 run that gave the Mules a 43-41 lead with 15:23 to play in the game. The Gorloks tied the game on a jumper from Cody Bradfisch, but two free throws from Lance Beckwith and a layup by Alex Dean gave UCM a 47-43 lead near the midway point of the half.

The Mules pushed the lead to five and looked as though they might start to pull away, but the Gorloks came right back with a 5-0 run to tie the game at 49-all with 8:28 to play in regulation. The Mules responded with a 5-0 run of their own to regain the lead for good at 54-49 with 6:33 to play.

UCM pushed the lead to six at 61-55 with 3:24 to play, but Webster came right back. A jumper from Dietrick Sooter and lay-in from Smith made it 61-59. After a Washington layup gave the Mules some breathing room, Cody Bradfisch drilled a three to pull WU back within one at 63-62 with 1:18 to play.

After a UCM turnover the Gorloks had the ball with a chance to take the lead, but a missed layup was followed up by two Lance Beckwith free throws to give the Mules a three-point lead. After Sooter missed a possible game-tying three, Washington calmly hit a pair from the charity stripe with :04 on the clock to ice the game for Central Missouri.

Long led the Mules with 16 points and nine rebounds. Washington added 14 points, while Beckwith and Hammork each had 11.

UCM shot 24-of-54 from the field for 44 percent, but made just 1-of-14 from behind the three-point line for seven percent. The Mules were 18-of-27 from the foul line for 67 percent. The Mules had 18 turnovers to just 10 assists, but did out-rebound WU 45-26

Webster was led by Huskey's 15 points. Smith had 13 and Hollis Edwards added 10 before fouling out. The Gorloks shot 42 percent from the field (23-of-55) and made 7-of-19 from beyond the arc for 37 percent. WU was 9-of-18 from the charity stripe for 50 percent. Webster had 13 turnovers to nine assists.

The Mules held a 42-22 advantage in points in the paint and had 21 second chance points to eight for the Gorloks.

The Mules are back in action next Saturday hosting Culver-Stockton at 2 p.m. at the Multipurpose Building.