All that stood in the way of a 4-0 start for Mules basketball was a home matchup with 2-1 Illinois Springfield. The Mules overcame an early deficit and key injury to defeat the Prairie Stars 77-65 Saturday at the Multipurpose Building in the finale of the Fairfield Inn Classic.
It was all Prairie Stars early as they opened an 8-2 lead over the Mules. Down early, the Mules lost senior forward Jakob Lowrance after he suffered a leg injury in the first three minutes of the game.
“Whenever you lose an all-conference player like Kob, who means so much to our team as far as on the floor and off the floor leadership, it hurts you,” said head coach Doug Karleskint. “Proud of (Brandon) Emmert and (Gaven) Pinkley stepping up.”
The Mules weren’t phased by the loss of their senior big man and went on a 9-0 run with five points from senior guard Jafar Kinsey. The teams traded leads through the first ten minutes before the Mules went on a 14-3 run to take a 31-20 lead. Junior guard James Byrd capped the run with back-to-back drives for layups.
Junior guard James Byrd goes around a defender in the Mules win over Illinois-Springfield. Byrd scored eight points and dished out three assists.
The Prairie Stars responded with a run of their own, outscoring the Mules 14-5 to end the half trailing 36-34.
The second half began with both teams trading baskets until the Prairie Stars tied the game at 44. Kinsey took over the Mules offense scoring on three straight possessions to maintain a 50-47 lead. That was the closest the Prairie Stars would get as their leading scorer Peyton Allen would foul out after receiving a technical foul with nearly ten minutes remaining.
From there the Mules increased their lead to double digits and closed out their fourth win of the season at the Multipurpose Building.
Kinsey finished with a game-high 21 points, four rebounds and three assists in his most productive outing as a Mule.
Right behind him was junior guard Matt Wilkinson who bounced back from a 1-7 shooting performance Friday with a career-high 20 points. He shot 6 of 10 from the field with three blocks and two steals.
“Last year, I don’t know if he bounces back like that,” Karleskint said. “After being so frustrated last night and seeing this from him 24 hours later. He was great, not only offensively, I thought he did a really good job playing tough basketball on the defensive end.”
Pinkley put up eight points and grabbed six rebounds in 23 minutes, the most he’s played in a game in his young Mules career.
Sophomore guard Daniel Farris finishes a coast-to-coast layup after stealing the ball from a Prairie Stars defender.
“You don’t see a lot of poise from freshman like that. He’s stepped in and the speed of the game hasn’t been too overwhelming for him,” Karleskint said. “He drills some big shots the first weekend and came in today and made some big post moves and altered a lot of shots defensively.”
Karleskint said Lowrance’s injury will be day-to-day.
“Too early to tell really with his injury,” he said. “Just going to play it day by day and see how it heals.”
The Mules are 4-0 for the third time in five seasons under Karleskint. Each of those three seasons the Mules scored 70 or more points in their opening four wins.
After enjoying their opening four at home, the Mules will have to wait three weeks to play at the Multipurpose Building. Stops in Kansas City and St. Louis followed by the opening of conference play on the road will keep them busy in the meantime. First up for the Mules is the University of Sioux Falls in South Dakota.
“Right now we’re all focused on Sioux Falls. They’re a tremendous team, and especially if Kob can’t go, it’ll make the challenge even harder,” Karleskint said. “The stretch coming up is going to test our metal. We took some punches here at home this weekend and we’ll see plenty here in the next couple games.”
Tipoff between the Mules and Cougars is scheduled for 4 p.m. Monday at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri.
