Junior guard Alex Moosmann set career highs of 11 assists and seven rebounds to go with his 17 points in leading the No. 12 Central Missouri Mules to an 84-66 senior night win over Missouri Western on Wednesday.
The win also broke the school record for home MIAA wins in a season, going 10-0. The 2006-07 Mules went 9-0 in MIAA play. The 15 overall conference wins also ties a school record set by that 2006-07 team.
Central Missouri (22-4, 15-4 MIAA) got a hot start from senior guard De’Andre Byrd, who tallied nine of the team’s first 13 points. The Griffons (12-14, 9-10 MIAA) quickly closed an early seven-point deficit with a 15-4 run to give them an 18-14 advantage with 12:56 left in the period. Senior guard Lonnel Johnson led the Griffon charge in the early going with eight points, including a couple threes in the run.
The Mules answered with a 14-1 run, started and ended by buckets from senior forward Esian Henderson. That gave UCM a 31-21 lead with 6:06 to go, and it never trailed again, coasting into the half with a 42-33 lead.
The Mules pushed their lead to as many as 17 by the 14:58 mark of the second half and after the Griffons used a 9-0 run to get the margin to five with 8:26 to play, UCM answered again, this time a 12-2 spurt put them back up by 15.
UCM will travel to Kirksville, Mo. on Saturday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. to face the Truman Bulldogs in the regular season finale.