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Mules drop exhibition opener to
experienced D-1 Fordham

The experience showed for Division I Fordham against the Mules in the first game of the O’Reilly Auto Parts/CBE Classic as it held off a late rally to grab a 76-66 win. Fordham started five senior returners while Central Missouri had five players on the floor that had never started a game in a Mule uniform.

As expected, the Mules got better defensively as the game went on and cut a 19 point Rams lead to only 10 late in the second half. Central Missouri actually out-scored Fordham 35-32 in the second period. The good news for the Mules was that it was an exhibition game, and they get another chance to tune up on Tuesday night against the Central Michigan Chippewas.

Fordham jumped out to a 10-5 lead before the Mules notched their only lead of the night by going on a 6-0 run. They got it on a Nathan Frazier three-pointer but the Rams quickly answered to expand their lead to 11 by the 8:05 mark of the opening period.

The Mules hung tough and kept the advantage to a manageable 44-31 deficit going into halftime. Central Missouri was led by sophomore Tremaine Luellen with 10 at the half while Marcus Stout of the Rams had 14.

Fordham jumped out in the second half early, moving its advantage up to 19, but Central Missouri turned in on defensively from there, going on a 28-19 run to finish the game.

The Mules were led by Luellen with 17 points while senior Kevin Wollbrinck tallied 13 points and six rebounds. Skip Thomas added 12 points on the night to pace Central Missouri. The bigger Rams out-rebounded the Mules 42-33 and out-shot them 44 percent to 37 percent in the outing.