Mules take home MIAA Tourney trophy

                For the second time in the last three seasons, the University of Central Missouri Mules cut down the nets at Municipal Auditorium, this time with a 59-56 victory over the upset minded Pittsburg State Gorillas.
            The Mules tallied their 27th win of the season and will wait for the NCAA-II Men’s Basketball selection show at 9:30 p.m. for the final South Central Region seeds.
            Central Missouri (27-3) jumped out to an 11-4 lead to start the game, keyed by Zack Wright and Darryl Sommerset. Pittsburg State (18-12) quickly cut it to a couple thanks to Cory Abercrombie though. Both teams turned it up on defense all night though, as the Mules were held to a season-low in points and the Gorillas were forced into 17 turnovers. Central Missouri held an advantage the rest of the half, getting it to as much as nine at the 2:34 mark, but Pittsburg State closed the period on a 7-0 run to get it to 30-28 at the break.
            The Mules hit only 36 percent in the half while the Gorillas hit 40 percent. Sommerset, Wright, and Theo Jones all had nine at the half as well.
            Pittsburg pulled even at the 14:22 mark on a Joe Bridges drive to the bucket and took its first lead of the night a couple minutes later, 38-36. It was back and forth from there with four more ties and eight lead changes down the stretch. Jones came up big again for the second day in a row though, hitting a three to put the Mules up two with 2:15 to play. They would not trail again after that but the Gorillas made it tough. With 16 seconds left, Wright hit two free throws to put Central Missouri up four but PSU’s Keith Windom came down the floor and hit a deep three with nine seconds left to cut it to one. Central Missouri got the inbounds pass in off the press and Wadale Williams found Jones on the other end of the floor for an easy lay-up with three seconds remaining to seal the deal.
            Wright finished the night with 21 points and got MIAA Tournament MVP honors while Sommerset also made the All-Tournament Team, tallying 17. Jones was the other double figure man with 14 while Williams dished out five assists and nabbed five steals.
            Abercrombie also made the tourney team and led the Gorillas with 14 points.