WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- Brad Woodson's three-pointer with just over two seconds to play in overtime gave the Mules a thrilling 79-78 win over Southeastern Oklahoma State on Friday night at the UCM Multipurpose Building. The three helped UCM rally from a four-point deficit with under a minute to play in the extra period.
The Mules (5-0) trailed 75-71 and 78-74 during the overtime period before mounting their comeback with a layup from
D'Marnier Cunningham and Woodson's three in the closing seconds. SE Oklahoma State (4-2) had one last chance, but their three-quarter court shot was well off the mark and the Mules picked up the win. The Mules forced overtime on
Marquiez Lawrence's tip-in with two seconds remaining in regulation to tie the game at 69-all. The Mules led 67-62 with 2:43 to play, but the Savage Storm used a 7-0 run to take the lead.
UCM opened the second half on a 5-0 run to push their four-point lead to nine and a 12-5 run midway through the second half gave the Mules their largest lead of the night at 61-47 with 10:25 to play in the game. The final six points of that run were scored by
Roosevelt Scott on back-to-back alley oop dunks from Cunningham and then a transition layup by Cunningham himself. The Savage Storm battled back, however, out-scoring the Mules 22-8 the rest of the second half to get the game to overtime.
The first half was a back-and-forth affair with neither team able to gain much control through the opening minutes. UCM took a 7-4 lead on buckets from Lawrence and Scott only to see SOSU tie the game on a three-pointer from Stelios Papafloratos. The game was tied four times in the first half with neither team leading by more than four points. The Savage Storm built a four-point edge at 31-27 on a three from Sami Bzai that was part of a 7-0 run. The Mules answered that run with a 10-2 run of their own to close the first half and lead 37-33 at the intermission.
Scott led UCM with 20 points in the game and also pulled down a team-high nine rebounds. Cunningham finished with 16 points, four rebounds and three assists, while Lawrence had 13 points and nine boards off the bench and
Spencer Reaves finished with 11.
The Mules were 31-of-75 from the floor for 41 percent shooting. They made 8-of-27 three-point attempts for 29 percent and were 9-of-17 at the free throw line for 52 percent. They had 16 assists and only turned the ball over six times while swiping nine steals.
Anton Cook led SOSU with a game-high 22 points. Bzai had 17, while Tyler Lonzie finished with 13 and Nathan Jackson had a double-double of 11 points and 13 rebounds. The Savage Storm were 27-of-66 from the field for 40 percent, 8-of-28 from beyond the arc for 28 percent and 16-of-24 at the charity stripe for 66 percent. They turned the ball over 17 times in the game and had seven blocked shots.
The Mules are back in action on Saturday night at 6 p.m. hosting MidAmerica Nazarene at 6 p.m. at the Multi. The game can be heard live on 1450 KOKO, 98.5 The Bar and warrensburgradio.com with Bill Turnage on the call.
