(WARRENSBURG, Mo.) — The Central Missouri Mules jumped out to an 11-0 lead and never looked back en route to an 87-51 win over Tabor on Wednesday night at the UCM Multipurpose Building. The win improves UCM’s record to 3-0 on the season.

The Mules (3-0) scored the first 11 points of the game behind two threes from Jon Gilliam. The Bluejays (2-2) got on the board with a jumper from Nick Sauer, but UCM rattled off nine of the next 11 points to open up a 20-4 lead not even five minutes into the game.

Central Missouri pushed the lead to 22 at 31-9 by the 12:02 mark of the half and the rout was on. A bucket by Tabor cut the lead to 31-11, but Jordan Epps‘ jumper started a 14-3 run that pushed the lead to 45-14 with 5:13 left in the half. The Bluejays made a short 11-4 run to end the half and the UCM lead was 49-25 at the break.

The second half got off to a much slower pace than the first with both teams struggling offensively in the early going. A 9-4 spurt by Tabor cut the lead to 53-34 with 15:41 to play in the game, but another three from Gilliam ignited another UCM run.

The Mules rattled off an 23-2 run to open a 76-36 lead with 7:45 remaining in the second half and they cruised to the 36-point victory in the home opener.

Central Missouri shot 53 percent for the game, shooting over 50 percent in both halves. UCM was 30 of 57 from the field and 9 of 20 from three point range for 45 percent. The Mules made 18 of 26 foul shots for 69 percent.

Epps and Preston Brunz led four Mules in double figures with 14 points each. Gilliam had 12 points on 4 of 5 shooting from beyond the arc and Ryan Magdziarz added 11 points. Ryan Donald finished with nine points and a game-high eight rebounds off the bench.

The Mules had 17 assists and forced Tabor into 24 turnovers leading to 25 UCM points.

UCM outscored the Bluejays 34-18 in the paint and the Mule bench outscored Tabor’s 45-14.

The Bluejays finished the game 20 of 54 from the field for 37 percent. They made just 5 of 17 three point attempts for 29 percent and they were 6 of 16 from the charity stripe for 38 percent.

Lance Carter led Tabor with 16 points, while Robbie Samuel had nine.

The Mules are back in action on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. hosting Baker at the UCM Multipurpose Building. The game can be heard live on the 44,000-watt 98.5 The Bar, 1450 KOKO and warrensburgradio.com with Shawn Jones and Greg Hassler on the call. A pay-per-view student-run webcast is also available from the UCM Media Network. The webcast can be accessed at AmericaOneSports.com.

Box Score