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WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- Seven Mules scored in double figures as the 10th-ranked Mules outlasted Arkansas-Fort Smith 111-106 in a triple overtime thriller on Saturday afternoon at the Multipurpose Building. The Mules scored the final five points of the third overtime to move to 6-0 on the season.

The Lions (2-4) jumped out to an early seven point lead midway through the first half. The Mules rallied to within a point only to see UAFS push the lead back to seven at 29-22 with just over five minutes left in the first half. The Lion lead was 32-29 with 2:51 left in the opening stanza, when the Mules went on a 9-0 run to grab a 38-32 lead with 28 seconds left. Seth Youngblood drained a three, one of his nine in the game, with seven seconds left and Blake Branham stole the inbounds pass and drained a three at the buzzer to tie the game at 38 at halftime.

UCM scored the first nine points of the second half to open a 47-38 lead with 17:39 to play, but Arkansas-Fort Smith kept battling back. The Lions got back to within five only to see the Mules push the lead to 10 at 56-46 with 14:25 to play. Five straight points from Josh Harmon cut the lead to five.

Central Missouri pushed the lead back to 10 at 66-56 with 8:18 to play in regulation, but 7-2 run cut the lead to five at 68-63. The Mules got the lead back to nine on a pair of free throws from Dillon Deck and a TJ White layup to make it 74-65 with 5:03 to play. After a Rakeem Dickerson layup gave UCM a 76-69 lead, Youngblood made two foul shots and a layup and Alex Cooper hit a pair of free throws to make it 78-75 with 2:05 to play. Brad Woodson hit a jumper to give UCM a five point lead, but Youngblood drained another three and Cooper hit two more at the free throw line to tie the game at 80. The Mules couldn't get a shot off and the game headed to overtime.

The Mules held a three-point lead at 84-81 early in the first extra period, but a Youngblood three tied the game at 86-all with 2:20 to play. The Lions went in front 90-88 with 1:10 left on a three from Cooper, but White's layup with :51 left tied the game. His and-one attempt was no good and but UCM got the rebound. The Mules had two cracks at the last shot, but couldn't get either to fall and the game headed to a second OT.

The Mules led by as many as four in overtime number two at 98-94 with :25 to play. Branham drained a three to pull UAFS within one and after Sean O'Brien hit one of two foul shots, DaVaunta Thomas scored on a putback to tie the game at 99 and send it to a third overtime.

Youngblood hit another three with 3:45 left in the third OT to put Arkansas-Fort Smith in front 102-99 and the Lions led 104-101 after a Youngblood jumper with 3:14 to play. Dickerson scored at the 2:47 mark to pull UCM within a point and his free throw at 2:15 tied the game at 104. Dickerson made 1-of-2 at the foul line later in the stanza to put the Mules up one at 105-104 and O'Brien hit a baseline jumper to give UCM a three-point advantage, 107-104.

Branham scored on a layup to pull UAFS within one at 107-106, but the UAFS bench was whistled for a technical foul by calling a timeout when they had zero left. Preston Brunz calmly hit both free throws to put UCM in front by three at 109-106 and Tony Cochran made one of two after being fouled on the inbounds to make it 110-106. Youngblood's final three was off the mark and Kyle Wolf hit one free throw to give UCM the final 111-106.

Dickerson led UCM with 19 points to go along with five assists. Deck had 18 points before fouling out. White had 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists off the bench. Brunz finished with 14 points and five assists, while Brennen Hughes had 13 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Wolf had 11 and Woodson finished with 10.

The Mules shot 52 percent from the floor, 37-of-71, and made 7-of-19 from the three-point line for 36 percent. UCM was 30-of-44 at the foul line for 68 percent. The Mules out-rebounded the Lions 42-37, held a 42-30 advantage in points in the paint, 20-8 in points off turnovers and 44-24 in bench scoring.

Youngblood led all scorers with 48 points on 14-of-21 shooting, including 9-of-14 from beyond the arc. Cooper had 22 points and Harmon added 13 off the bench. The Lions shot 34-of-66 from the floor for 51 percent and 17-of-25 from beyond the arc for 68 percent. UAFS was 21-of-32 at the foul line for 65 percent.

UCM had 19 assists to nine turnovers, while the Lions had 12 assists and 15 giveaways.

The Mules are back in action tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. hosting Tabor at the UCM Multipurpose Building. The game can be heard live on 1450 KOKO, 98.5 The Bar and warrensburgradio.com with Bill Turnage on the call.