KANSAS CITY, Mo. (March 4, 2017) -- Central Missouri held Nebraska-Kearney to a season-low 57 points and beat the Lopers 75-57 to punch their ticket to Sunday's MIAA Tournament Championship Game. The Mules will take on the winner of top-seeded Northwest Missouri and fourth-seeded Missouri Southern on Sunday at 1 p.m.

The Mules (21-8) got off to a fast start, jumping out to an 8-2 lead at the 16:11 mark. After a three from Isaiah McKay cut the lead to three the Mules scored six straight points on buckets from Dushaun Rice and Jakob Lowrance to lead 14-7. McKay hit another three to pull UNK (20-10) within four, but Brad Woodson hit a runner in the lane to push the lead back to six.

The Mules pushed the lead to nine at 23-14 and again at 25-16 but another three from McKay made it a six-point game with 7:52 to play. A jumper from DJ Richardson started an 8-0 run that finished with a Marquiez Lawrence jumper and gave the Mules a 33-19 lead with 4:34 to play in the half. A three-pointer by Kyle Wolf later in the frame pushed the lead to 15 at 38-23, but the Lopers scored seven of the final nine points of the half to pull within 40-30 at halftime.

The second half got off to a much slower start with Kearney scoring the first three points to pull within 40-33 at the 18:28 mark. Rice hit UCM's first field goal of the half, a three at the 17:32 mark, to push the lead back to 10.

The teams traded buckets over the next seven-plus minutes with the lead never going higher than 12 and never lower than seven. The lead was nine at 56-47 with 6:26 to play in the game when Spencer Reaves drained a three-pointer as the shot clock was winding down to put the Mules in front 59-47 with 5:56 on the clock.

A layup from Lawrence pushed the lead to 14 at the 4:51 mark only to see UNK quickly pull within 10, but Reaves was fouled shooting a three and made all three free throws to put UCM in front 66-53 with 3:41 to play. Reaves capitalized on a Loper technical foul, making both free throws, and the lead was 16 with just over two minutes to play to ice the game. UCM would lead by as many as 21 before ending with the 75-57 victory.

Reaves led all scorers with 20 points, while Lawrence recorded his sixth double-double of the season with 17 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. DJ Richardson added 14 points and three assists as well.

The Mules shot 55 percent (28-51) from the field and out-scored UNK 42-26 in the paint. The Mules were 16-of-19 at the free throw line and out-rebound the Lopers 34-27.

Trey Lansman led UNK with 18 points, while Yahsua Trent and Ty Danielson scroed 12 and 11, respectively. The Lopers were held to just 36 percent shooting (19-52), including just 6-of-25 from three-point range for 24 percent.

With the win, the Mules advance to the 15th MIAA Tournament Championship Game in program history and their sixth trip in the 15 years the tournament has been hosted at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City.

UCM will take on the winner of Northwest Missouri and Missouri Southern on Sunday at 1 p.m.