The No. 8 Central Missouri Mules survived a last second shot in overtime, thanks to a block by junior guard Alex Moosmann, and pulled out a 77-76 victory in the first round of the MIAA Tournament against Missouri Southern.
In the first overtime game in the MIAA Tournament since 2005, Moosmann blocked MSSU guard Mariun Price’s shot as he was driving to the bucket. Second-seeded Central Missouri (24-4) led by four with 14 seconds left, before the seventh-seeded Lions (19-12) leading scorer, Skyler Bowlin, drilled a three with nine seconds remaining to cut it to one. The Lions fouled UCM senior guard Joe Young with seven seconds left, and he missed both charities to give the Lions a chance.
Young led the Mules offense all night though, hitting five three-pointers and finishing with a game-high 19 points. Central Missouri led the entire first half, going up by as many as nine on a couple occasions before the Lions closed the half on a 5-0 run (all by Price) to make it 36-32 at the break.
Central Missouri out-rebounded the Lions in the first half by four but MSSU hit 47 percent of its shots to stay in it. De’Andre Byrd had eight points to lead UCM at the break while Price led the Lions with seven.
There were nine ties and six lead changes in the second half. Central Missouri grabbed a five point advantage on a three by Moosmann with 2:48 left, but the Lions kept fighting, cutting it to one with 2:25 left. A three by Young with 1:07 remaining made it a four-point lead, but a jumper by DaRell Crittendon and another by freshman Jason Adams with 21 seconds left tied the game. A jumper by Watts with two seconds left was off the mark though, and the game went to overtime. UCM led the entire time in the extra period.
Central Missouri was held to a season-low 35.2 percent from the field, but out-rebounded the Lions 55-to-34. The rebound total was a season-high for the Mules. MSSU hit 47 percent for the game.
Young led the Mules with 19, while Sanijay Watts, after being double-teamed the entire night, had 16 points and a career-high 12 boards. Freshman Zach Redel and Byrd had 11 points apiece as well for UCM.
Central Missouri will play at 2:15 p.m. Saturday against the winner of the Emporia State/Washburn game.
Story courtesy UCM athletics.
UCM coach Kim Anderson says it’s important for UCM to position itself to be a host school in its NCAA region. Anderson likes the way his team rises to the occasion to win. Mo. Southern coach Robert Corn on the OT loss and he says his team is disheartened by the season-ending loss
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