Miners finish pre-Christmas slate with 74-point win

Casey Noll

Given the results of Central Christian's first two encounters against NCAA Division II competition this season, Monday's game against UMR at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building fell right in line with those contests.

Five players scored in double figures for the Miners as they wiped out Central Christian 104-30 Monday. The victory pushes the Miners' record to the .500 mark at 5-5 as they take a nine-day break in the schedule for Christmas.

The contest was decided right from the start, as UMR scored the first six points, 19 of the first 20 and led 34-6 with 7:28 left in the first half. The Miners held the Heralds (3-9) to 19.6 percent shooting on the night (10-of-51) and forced 30 turnovers which led to 46 UMR points at the other end.

The turnovers and missed shots also led to 28 fast-break points by the Miners, who broke the 100-point mark for the first time since beating Central Bible 100-71 on Dec. 8, 2003.

UMR led 49-11 at halftime, then shot 62.9 percent in the second half as it outscored Central Christian 55-19 after the intermission to record its largest margin of victory since beating Calvary Bible 127-42 -- an 85-point victory -- four days prior to the Central Bible game in 2003.

The 30 points given up by the Miners on Monday were the fewest in any game since a 1948 game against Parks Air College when the Miners posted a 60-26 win.

The Miners had five players land in double figures in the game, led by Yamani Ball with 19 points. UMR also got 17 from Casey Noll, 16 from Marquis Jones, 15 from Tyrone Davidson as he posted another double-double and 10 from Shea Wiemann.

Davidson had 14 rebounds to go with his 15 points for his fourth double-double of the season. In addition, he tied a UMR single-game record by blocking eight shots, matching the mark set by Dave Moellenhoff in a 1985 game against Missouri Valley.

Davidson has blocked 21 shots in the Miners' first 10 games of the season.

UMR also held a whopping 55-24 advantage on the boards against the Heralds.

The Miners' next game will take place Dec. 30 against Oakland City at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building. Game time will be at 3 p.m. following the women's game that afternoon.