FULTON, Mo.—The William Woods men's basketball team tips off the 2013-14 season Monday night on the road against Missouri Valley College at 7:30 p.m.
The Owls are looking to build off a 2012-13 year where the team finished 13-17 overall and set the school record for most conference wins with nine.
The team is also looking to replace four departing seniors, including the top three scorers from last year in
Daniel Armah,
D.J. Hoskins and
Logan Decker, while
Roy McElroy finished second on the team in field goal percentage at 48.6 percent. The Owls do return seniors
Jonathon Nutt,
Dontre' Jenkins,
Seth Thomas and
Blake Burgess, all of whom appeared in at least 27 of the team's 30 games last year and played integral parts for WWU.
Nutt, a Palmyra, Mo., native returns as the leading scorer for the Owls, as he averaged 10.4 points per game. He also was second on the team in free throw percentage at 76% and third in field goal percentage averaging 42.3%.
Jenkins' looks to be running the point for the Owls and has already established himself as a player who can put his team in a great position to score, as over his three years thus far with the Owls, he has totaled 204 assists which is second all-time in school history. He trails teammate Nutt by just one assist, so having two players who combined for over 400 assists on the court together, can benefit the offense in a positive way.
Thomas, a 6-5 forward, appeared in 27 games during the 2012-13 season, averaging 21 minutes per game and 7.4 points per game. His best game last season came in an 81-64 victory over Haskell Indian Nations, where he led the Owls with 21 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the field.
Another player ready for a breakout season will be Jacksonville, Ill., native
Blake Burgess, who averaged 6.4 points per game in 29 appearances last season. Burgess grabbed down a career high 131 rebounds last year, which was second best on the team behind Armah.
To replace Armah and Roy on the inside, Head Coach
Nick Totta knows there are some underclassmen on the roster that can step up and be a strong presence on the inside. "
Eli Fleer has the chance to make strides this year and make an impact for us, while
Klayton Kuschel is playing well and
Derrick Hayes is a new transfer from Clackamas junior college, who has an opportunity to be a great player for us," said Totta.
The Vikings (1-0), who only won nine games last year, are off to a good start to their season, defeating American Midwest Conferences own Hannibal-LaGrange 80-63 on Nov. 2
nd. The Trojans held a 12-6 lead on MVC at the 13:52 mark, but then HLG went cold from the field, as for the next 5:00 minutes, the Vikings went on an 18-0 run, before Hannibal-LaGrange made a three-pointer with just under 9:00 minutes remaining in the half, cutting the lead down to 24-15.
MVC, however, was able to hold onto its advantage the rest of the half, as even though both team's shot 40 percent from the field at the end of 20:00 minutes of play, it was the Vikings having a 38-26 advantage, led by Jim Thomas with 12 points.
In the second half, the Vikings never relinquished its lead, with the largest being 18 points at 76-58 with 1:40 remaining and they were able to go on for the 17 point win. Four different players led MVC to its first victory on the season, led by Thomas going 8-for-14 from the field for 22 points in just 21:05 minutes played.
Raviel Burton was second on the team contributing 13 points, while Johnny Brown and Jacob Powell each added 11 and 10 respectively. The Vikings controlled the glass, as they outrebounded the Trojans 39-29 and made it count at the free throw line, shooting 83 percent (15-for-18), while HLG shot just 58 percent (10-for-17) from the charity line.
Fans should stay updated tomorrow evening for a full recap and score from the Owls season opener.
