by Alex Agueros

Sports Editor

Another season of Central Missouri basketball tipped off Friday evening. For the first time in three years, the Mules opened their season at home in the Multipurpose building to host a regional round-robin tournament in Warrensburg.

The Mules began their season with a 78-60 win over Minnesota-Duluth in the first ever meeting between the programs.

Minnesota-Duluth led just once, a 4-3 advantage two minutes into the game. The Bulldogs trailed by 4 at halftime, and were within one point of the Mules with 17:51 to play. A Central Missouri 26-9 run followed. The Mules shot 58.6 percent (17-of-29) in the second half to separate themselves from their Northern Sun opponents.

Head coach Doug Karleskint said, at times, the team played up to their high potential.

“We had spurts where were really good,” Karleskint said. “We had spurts where we showed why we were excited coming into the year.”

Freshman center Jakob Lowrance led the Mules with 13 points on 6-of-6 shooting and five rebounds in 21 minutes. Sophomore guard Spence Reaves also scored 13 on 5-of-12 shooting and had a team-high five assists in 34 minutes.

Reaves, a transfer from South Carolina’s North Greenfield University, said he had fun in his first game as a Mule.

“We played at a great pace,” Reaves said. “We shared the ball well, and it was fun. I’m glad to be a Mule.”

Four Mules from last year’s team – Brad Woodson, Garrett Sandbothe, Kyle Wolf and Tony Cochran – logged minutes in the game and none started.

Junior forward Marquiez Lawrence’s dunk – the first of the season – gave UCM a 12-6 lead early in the first half. Redshirt junior guard Brad Woodson chipped in five points in the first half and finished with 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting and five rebounds.

Senior forward Scott Roosevelt started the game and led the team with 8 rebounds in 19 minutes and scored 8 points on 2-of-8 shooting.

The Mules host Concordia-St. Paul at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Multipurpose Building.