FULTON, Mo.--  The William Woods men's basketball team will look to move its American Midwest Conference record back to the .500 mark, as the Owls play host to Missouri Baptist University on Saturday afternoon. Tip-off will start at 4:00 p.m.

The Owls (4-11; 2-3 AMC), were held to a season-low 51 points against Lyon College on Jan.9^th, as the Scots held on for the nine-point victory. Senior Jonathon Nutt led the Owls with 16 points on 5-of-11 shooting, while Blake Burgess and Nate Bitner each contributed 12 points on the evening.

The team narrowed the Scots lead down to one point twice in the second half, but Lyon was just too hot from the floor, as they ended the game with a 61.1 field goal percentage, while holding WWU to just 32.7 percent from the floor.

Through the five conference games thus far, the Owls are averaging 70 points per game, while its opponents hold a slight advantage, netting 72 points per contest. The team is shooting 42 percent from the field, led by Nutt scoring 14.4 points per game, handing out 18 assists and is shooting 84 percent from the free throw line.

Patrick Lewis has been stellar since entering the starting lineup, and in AMC play, the sophomore guard is putting up 12.4 points per game and shooting 53.8 percent from the field. Burgess, a Jacksonville, Ill., native, is netting 10 points a game in the AMC and leads the team in rebounds with 34.

On the season, Nutt leads the Owls with a career-high 16.6 point per game average (8^th best in AMC), while Burgess is also having a personal best season, putting up 13.7 points per game and hitting 44 percent of his shots from the floor.

Lewis (9.9 ppg) and Nate Bitner (9.8 ppg) continue to be key players when on the floor, as they are both averaging just under 10 points per game.

The Spartans (2-10; 2-1 AMC), had a rocky start to the 2013-14 season, as they dropped its first nine games on the year. Once AMC play rolled around, MBU gained its first victory on the season against Hannibal-LaGrange (74-65) and followed that up with another victory against Benedictine-Springfield (71-63).
Their two-game winning streak, however, was short-lived as the Spartans fell to No. 11-ranked Freed-Hardeman 98-60 on Jan. 9^th.

Missouri Baptist is scoring 71 points per game, but its opponents are putting up 86 points per game against the Spartan defense. The team is shooting 42.8 percent from the field, led by Chris Buzzell, averaging 15.9 points per game and leads the team from the free throw line, hitting 81 percent.

Kalvin Lewis is off to a solid start, scoring 15.6 points per game and leads the team in assists with 41, while Corey McKinney is the final Spartan to put up double-figure numbers, averaging 10.4 points a game.

On numerous occasions this season, the Owls held a size advantage against its opponents and will look to use that again against MBU, as WWU has grabbed down 588 rebounds (39.2 rpg), while the Spartans have totaled 365 (30.4 rpg) on the year.

Fans should stay updated on wwuowls.com tomorrow evening for a full recap and score on this conference game.

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