By MATT WALLACE
Sports Reporter

(WARRENSBURG, Mo., digitalBURG) — UCM hosted the inaugural Mule Madness intramural state basketball tournament last weekend.

PHOTO SUBMITTED BY UCM INTRAMURALS
The University of Missouri men’s club basketball team was the inaugural Mule Madness men’s tournament champions after defeating UCM’s Big Bros 64-58 on Saturday, Feb. 27, in the Student Recreation and Wellness Center.

Teams from UCM, Mizzou, Northwest Missouri State, Central Methodist, Missouri State and Missouri S&T arrived and began play on Friday. Play continued bright and early on Saturday morning, with three games tipping off at 9 a.m.

Both the men’s and women’s championships culminated on Saturday night, with Mizzou beating UCM’s Big Bros 64-58 for the men’s title and Central Methodist beat Missouri S&T 43-14 to take home the women’s title.

The staff and players who participated in the event said the tournament was a success. Kevin Sneed, assistant director of intramural and recreation, and Justin Colf, intramural sports graduate assistant, were instrumental in organizing the tournament. The pair had been working on organizing and facilitating a state basketball tournament for a few years. Missouri S&T has hosted a statewide flag football tournament the previous two years.

“We just figured it would be a good thing to start introducing to our state so that we could start sending teams from our state, as state champions, to the regional level,” Colf said. “The fact that we got seven men’s teams and three women’s teams – only three total coming internally – I think that’s a great sign of things to come.”

Already, staff members and teams said that they are looking forward to next years tournament. The tournament provides new opportunities that previously were not offered in our state, and the tournament is expected to expand come next February.

“We want more teams,” Sneed said. “We had seven men’s teams and three women’s teams but I would love for this to be a three-day tournament with more teams, more officials, and more courts.”

PHOTO SUBMITTED BY UCM INTRAMURALS
The All-Tournament official team of (from left) Dylan McInturf, Malik Green, James Hison and Trey Wilson was named after the inaugural Mule Madness basketball tournament on Saturday, Feb. 27, in the Student Recreation and Wellness Center.

PHOTO SUBMITTED BY UCM INTRAMURALS
The Central Methodist University team won the inaugural Mule Madness women’s basketball tournament after defeating Missouri S&T in the championship game 43-14 Saturday, Feb. 27, in the Student Recreation and Wellness Center.