WICHITA, Kan. (Jan. 16, 2021) - Central Missouri Mules basketball defeated Newman 62-57 after a 40 minute battle that saw five lead changes and multiple ties. Senior guard Koray Gilbert led the Mules offense for the second-straight game with the team-high 14 points. 

How it Happened:
• After Ja'Cor Nelson scored the opening points with a jumper in the paint, it was a point-for-point battle for the next 10 minutes following the tip-off. 
• Central Missouri's 14-10 lead with under 10 minutes left was answered with a 7-0 Jets. 
• The Jets saw their largest lead of the game with a 23-16 advantage over UCM with five minutes left to play in the first. 
• Gaven Pinkley and Easton Darling landed back-to-back threes which were followed up with a Luinstra jump shot to regain the lead at 24-23. 
• The Mules and Jets went into the break tied 26-26 for the Mules first halftime tie of the season. 
• The point-for-point battle continued into the final 20 as the scored was tied three different times in the first 10 minutes of the second half. 
• With under five minutes to play, Newman had a five-point advantage at 51-46. 
• A pair of free-throws by Cameron Hunter sparked a 10-0 Mules run to give them a 56-51 lead with under two minutes left to play. 
• Central Missouri hit 6-6 at the foul line in the final minutes to secure the victory over Newman. 
• Overall, the Mules shot 22-50 from the floor for 44%, 4-15 from the three-point range for 26.7%, and 14-16 at the line for 87.5%.
• Similarly, the Jets finished 20-45 for 44.4% from the field, 7-23 from behind the arc for 30.4%, and 10-16 from the free-throw for 62.5%. 
• The defensive battle was just as close as the offensive one as the Mules collected just three more boards than the Jets at 30-27. 

It Was Over When...
A three-pointer by Newman's Ian Lee brought the Jets within three points of the Mules at 58-55 with 27 second left to play. Newman fouls sent UCM to the line where they hit 6-6 to win it 62-57. 

Leading the Mules:
• Gilbert led the UCM offense for the second-straight game with 14 points. Gilbert also tied with Nelson for the team-high seven rebounds. 
• Luinstra tied his season-high 12 points with a 4-8 performance in the field and a perfect 4-4 at the line. The junior guard also led the Mules with three assists. 
• Pinkley played a game-high 36 minutes and finished with 10 points and six rebounds. 
• Nelson finished with eight points and seven rebounds. 

Leading the Jets: 
• Deandre Johnson finished 7-10 from the field and 2-4 at the free-throw line for the game-high 16 points. 
• Lee was 5-13 with four threes to total 15 points. 
• Aleksa Jovanovic went 3-4 from behind the arc and added a pair of free-throws to finish with 11.
•  Joel Boyce led the Jets defense with seven rebounds and recorded the team-high four assists. 

News & Notes:
• Newman's 57 points is the lowest scored against the Mules this season. 
• Pinkley surpassed 600 career points and now has 607.
• The Mules 87.5% free-throw shooting is a season-high. 
• Central Missouri tied their season-high of 13 steals. 
• The series between Newman and UCM is now tied 1-1.

Up Next:
Mules basketball returns to action Thursday, Jan. 21st with a match up against Northeastern State to kick-off a four-game stint at home. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in the UCM Multipurpose Building.