WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- The 12th-ranked Mules made their first nine shots of the game and bolted to a 26-2 lead in the first six plus minutes en route to a 74-59 win over Missouri Western on Wednesday night. The Mules are now 7-0 overall and 1-0 in MIAA play.
The Mules came out of the gates hitting on all cylinders as they jumped out to the huge lead. In addition to making their first nine shots from the floor, they made their first six three-pointers to blow the game open from the get go. Seven different Mules scored in the first half as they led by as many as 25 in the frame.
The Griffons (2-5, 0-1 MIAA) battled back, however. After trailing 29-4, they went on a 12-2 run to pull within 15 by the 6:34 mark of the first half.
Marquiez Lawrence quickly pushed the lead back to 17 as he flushed home a missed layup to halt the run. UCM finished the half on an 11-6 spurt and led 44-24 at the intermision.
Missouri Western picked up the intensity early in the second half as they were able to get back to within 15 at 53-38 with 15:04 to play in the game. The Mules, however, had another answer, a 12-0 run after the Griffons got within 55-40 made it 67-40 in favor of UCM with 8:24 to play in the game. The lead grew to 28 at 70-42 on an
Isiah Sykes made three-pointer as UCM cruised to the conference-opening win.
The Mules were led by
D'Marnier Cunningham's 23 points. He shot 10-of-15 from the field and also had five assists and three rebounds. Lawrence added 12 points and a team-high nine boards and
Spencer Reaves finished with 11. UCM shot 48 percent from the field, going 28-of-58. The Mules were 10-of-23 from three-point range for 43 percent and 8-of-13 at the foul line for 61 percent.
UCM held Missouri Western to 35 percent shooting for the game, 22-of-62, and just 4-of-15 from beyond the arc for 26 percent. The Griffons were 11-of-12 at the charity stripe for 91 percent. Aaron Emmanuel led MWSU with a double-double of 12 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Trey Sampson had 11 points and Xavier Newson chipped in 10 off the bench.
The UCM bench out-scored MWSU's 45-21.
The Mules look to continue their season-opening winning streak when they welcome defending MIAA champion Northwest Missouri to the Multi on Saturday afternoon. Tip-off is slated for 3:30 p.m. and the game can be heard live on 1450 KOKO, 98.5 The Bar and warrensburgradio.com.
