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WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- Dominique Long scored a career-high 30 points to lead Central Missouri to a 74-64 win over Southwest Baptist on Wednesday night at the UCM Multipurpose Building. With the win, the Mules improve to 8-3 overall and 2-1 in MIAA play.

The Mules raced out to an early 13-2 advantage connecting on five of their first seven shots. The Bearcats (2-9, 0-3 MIAA) battled back and closed the gap to five at 19-14 with 9:41 to play in the half. Seven straight points by UCM extended the Mules to their largest lead of the game at 26-14 with 6:17 remaining in the opening stanza.

Southwest Baptist kept coming back and used a 14-2 run to tie the game at 28-all with just over a minute to play in the half. Long hit a driving layup to put the Mules in front 30-28, but Jalen Loving hit a pair of free throws with 33 seconds left in the half and the teams went into the intermission tied at 30.

The teams traded buckets on the first few possessions of the second half before a 5-0 spurt gave the Mules a 39-34 advantage. UCM was able to push the lead to seven on a couple of different occasions, including 54-47 with 12:37 to play in the game. The Bearcats battled back yet again and closed to within three at 58-55 with 7:54 left in regulation.

A three-pointer by Ryan Magdziarz pushed the lead back to six, but was quickly answered by a bucket from Damion Hooks. Zach Bush hit a pair of free throws to get the lead back to six and following a layup from Gilbert Gyamfi the Mules made four straight free throws to extend the lead to eight. 

Loving converted a traditional three-point play to cut the lead to five with 2:34 to play, but Central Missouri made five of six from the charity stripe down the stretch to close out the 10-point win.

The Mules shot 49 percent for the game, 25-of-51, including 5-of-16 from three-point range for 31 percent. UCM made 19-of-27 from the foul line for 70 percent. The Mules had 14 assists, but turned the ball over 18 times leading to 20 SBU points. The Mules out-rebounded SBU 39-37 and out-scored them 32-20 in the paint.

Long finished 12-of-16 from the floor en route to a new career-high of 30 points. Reggie Stallings recorded his second career double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Lance Beckwith had eight points and five rebounds as did Bush off the bench.

The Bearcats shot 34 percent from the field, 22-of-64 and they were 5-of-22 from beyond the arc for 23 percent. SBU was 15-of-21 from the charity stripe for 71 percent. 

Hooks led four SBU players in double figures with 19 points to go along with nine rebounds. Rashaad Brown-Peterson finished with 16 points and seven rebounds, while Gyamfi chipped in 12 points and Loving had 10.

The Mules are off this Saturday and will return to action next Wednesday, Jan. 9 hosting Northeastern State at 7:30 p.m. at the UCM Multipurpose Building. Airtime on the UCM Sports Network with Shawn Jones and Greg Hassler is 7:05 p.m. You can hear the game live on 1450 KOKO, 98.5 The Bar as well as www.warrensburgradio.com. 90.9 The Bridge will pick up the broadcast at tip-off. A pay-per-view student-run webcast is also available through AmericaOneSports.com.