FULTON, Mo.—The William Woods men's basketball team will look for its fourth win in American Midwest Conference play, as the Owls host Benedictine University at Springfield on Tuesday night. Tip-off is set to start at 7:30 p.m.
The Owls (5-11; 3-3 AMC), are coming off a 77-66 victory over Missouri Baptist back on Jan 11
th, where the team dominated the Spartans from start-to-finish, as they held a double-digit lead for the majority of the game.
WWU trailed 4-3 early in the first frame, but then rattled off an 18-0 run, taking a commanding 21-4 lead on MBU at the 10:23 mark. From then on, the Owls would hold a double-digit advantage, as Missouri Baptist was only able to narrow the lead down to 10 in the second half.
Blake Burgess led WWU with 18 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the floor and was a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line. Seniors
Jonathon Nutt and
Seth Thomas closed out with 11 points apiece, with nine of Thomas 11 points coming from beyond the three point arc.
The Owls have won four out of their past six games, averaging 74.3 points per game and shooting 44 percent from the field. During this stretch, the team is led by Nutt, putting up 13.3 points per game, shooting 80 percent (20-of-25) from the free throw line and leads the team in assists with 19.
Burgess is scoring just under 13 points per game (12.8 ppg) and has grabbed down a team-high 45 rebounds, while
Patrick Lewis is scoring 12.2 points per game and netting a team-high 57.9 percent of his shots from the floor.
On the season, the team is led by Nutt averaging 16.6 points per game, which places the senior ninth in the AMC overall. After his 18-point performance against MBU, Burgess continues to have a career-season, upping his season average to 14.0, while Lewis (9.9 ppg) and
Nate Bitner (9.4 ppg), are putting up nearly 10 points per game.
Benedictine University at Springfield (5-9; 0-5 AMC), is searching for its first AMC win on the season, after they dropped its third game in a row against Park University, falling 77-73 its last time out.
After having a four game winning streak from Nov.11
th-23
rd, the Bulldogs have lost six of their past seven games, however, three of those losses came by five points or less.
On the season, BenU-Springfield is averaging 72.9 points per game, led by Justin Smith, totaling 14.4 points per game, leads the team from the floor, scoring 48 percent of his shot attempts and has dished out 65 assists. Thomas Dillard is another player to look out for, as the sophomore guard is the final Bulldog to score in double-figures, scoring 10.1 points a game.
"They are an athletic team, that has Smith and Dillard having a strong season, who can provide a challenge for us defensively," said head coach
Nick Totta. "On offense, they attack you off the dribble and we are going to have to contain them, get the defensive rebound and push our offense the other way," he added.
Against BenU-Springfield, the Owls again will have a considerable size advantage and will look to continue hitting their shots from the floor and controlling the inside game and the boards against the Bulldogs.
Fans should stay updated on wwuowls.com tomorrow night for a full recap and score on this game at Anderson Arena.Â
