Columbia, Mo. -- Dontre' Jenkins (New Madrid, Mo.) scored all of his team-high 18 points in a furious second-half comeback effort, but the William Woods University men's basketball team would fall short in a Thursday night AMC matchup, losing 70-64 at Columbia College.

After turnovers by each team on its first possession, the Owls struck first and jumped out to a 9-6 lead with 14:48 on the clock.

The Cougars answered behind five straight points from Devin Griffin to take a 9-11 lead with 13:43 in the half, and pushed out to a 20-28 halftime margin.

Out of the break, Columbia stretched its lead to 11 before the first of the WWU runs. Jenkins racked seven of the Owls 13 points over a stretch of 5:34, as WWU closed from 23-34 to 36-37 with 11:20 to go. Logan Decker (Kansas City, Mo.), Adam Otto (Lake Ozark, Mo.) and Jonathon Nutt (Palmyra, Mo.) each chipped in two during the run as well.

The Cougars pushed back, but WWU was able to pull level at 42-42 with 7:56 to play, as Matt Helle (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) sank one of two free throws as he was fouled during a transition run for WWU.

Roy McElroy (Aurora, Ill.) broke up a 16-7 Columbia run with 2:16 on the clock, converting a three-point play, with Jenkins draining a trey after a bucket from Jordan Dressler to pull WWU to within 55-60 with 1:36 to go. Jenkins picked up a steal on the next Cougar possession, feeding Decker in transition to close the gap to 57-60, but Dressler answered with a three-point play to push the margin back to six.

WWU continued to battle down the stretch, with a Jenkins trey closing the gap to 64-68 with 3.2 seconds in the game, but even with a quick foul the Owls couldn't finish the comeback, falling to 9-12 on the year and 0-3 in AMC play.

The Owls hit at a solid .586 pace in the second half to finish the game on a .436 shooting clip, with a .455 mark from distance. WWU held the normally stout Cougar squad to just 1-of-20 shooting from distance and a .371 overall mark, but were outpaced at the free throw line. Columbia shot 23-of-32 from the stripe to an 11-of-18 performance from WWU.

In addition to Jenkins's 18, Nutt added 16 and Decker contributed 13. Helle led the Owls with seven rebounds. Dressler led both teams with 31 points and 11 rebounds on the night.

William Woods is back home on Saturday, hosting Williams Baptist College in a 4 p.m. tip.