Fayette, Mo. - The Central Methodist men's basketball team earned a senior day win over Heart foe Graceland University by a score of 83-72, Saturday afternoon inside Puckett Fieldhouse.
Prior to tip-off, the program honored seniors Fode Camara, Kyle McDermed, Jeff Salmon and Jacob Moore, who suited up for the final time inside Puckett Fieldhouse. With the win, Central improves to 10-13 and 7-11 in the Heart, while Graceland drops to 2-17 overall and 1-17 in conference action.
CMU scored the first basket of the game, before Graceland posted an 8-0 scoring run over the next three minutes to take an 8-2 lead. The YellowJackets maintained their six point lead throughout the next five minutes, before a 9-0 run from the Eagles pushed them back out in front, 20-17. Neither team led by more than three points for the remainder of the half, as Central entered the locker room with a slim 35-34 lead.
CMU opened the second half with three-straight baskets from Trent Lyles, Chandler Bevans and Camara, extending the lead to seven. The Eagles maintained their offensive output for the rest of the second half, leading by as many as 11 points en route to an 83-72 victory.
Bevans recorded his second highest scoring total this season, collecting a team leading 22 points on eight-of-12 shooting from the field, paired with nine rebounds, two assists and a block. He also led the offense with two three-point baskets. Camara reached double figures for the seventh-straight game, scoring 16 points and grabbing 12 rebounds, good enough for his seventh doube-double of the season. In addition, the Queens, New York native collected three assists and two blocks.
Jonathan Brown was the final Eagle to record double-digits, adding 10 points paired with seven rebounds. Both Marcus Anthony and Amir Pettiford added eight points off the bench.
Central finished the afternoon shooting 47.3-percent from the field, compared to 38.2-percent for Graceland. The Eagles claimed victory in the battle of the boards, grabbing 51 rebounds while the YellowJackets finished with 41.
As a team, Central dished out 17 assists on 35 of their made baskets, while five players dished out two or more assists.
CMU concludes the regular season with a matchup against Heart North Division opponent Grand View University on Saturday, Feb. 20 at 4:00 p.m. in Des Moines, Iowa.
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