COLUMBIA, Mo.—The William Woods men's basketball team will look to even up the season series and pull an upset against No. 6-ranked Columbia College on Thursday night. Tip-off for this American Midwest Conference showdown is set for 7:30 p.m.
The Owls (6-14; 4-6 AMC), are coming off a solid effort against then No. 3-ranked Freed-Hardeman, but the Lions size on the inside proved to be too much for WWU, as FHU escaped Anderson Arena with a 90-80 victory.
Patrick Lewis led all scorers with 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting and was a perfect 5-of-5 from the three-point arc. Coming into the game, Lewis was hitting just 15 percent (3-of-20) of his shots from downtown. Senior
Blake Burgess eclipsed the 20-point mark for the second straight game, finishing with 20 points (5-of-10 shooting) and tied the school record for most free-throws made in a game, going 9-of-9.
After jumping out to a 16-14 lead in the first half, the Owls would hold its advantage for the next seven minutes and 18 seconds, including jumping out to its largest lead of the game at 32-24. The Lions, however, went on an 8-0 run and tie the game up at 32-all, before eventually taking the lead and holding on through the end of regulation.
The Owls have shot better from the floor the past five games (2-3), hitting 46.2 percent of its shots, while holding opponents to 39.2 percent and just 67.4 points per game. Burgess leads the offense, averaging 15.8 points and hitting a team-high 56.1 percent of his shots from the floor.
The last time these two teams met back on Dec. 5
th, Columbia College (18-2; 9-1 AMC), held on for the four-point victory (75-71) over WWU.
Jonathon Nutt scored a game-high 21 points on 7-of-16 shooting, while Lewis added 16 points off the bench.
On the season, the Owls are led by Nutt with 14.6 points and leads the team in assists with 57, while Burgess (14.3 ppg) and Lewis (10.1 ppg), continue to put up solid numbers for the team each game. After totaling 10 points against Freed-Hardeman, junior forward
Nate Bitner has upped his average to just under 10 points.(9.2 ppg).
After suffering its first conference loss (80-65) at Freed-Hardeman back on Jan. 18
th, the Cougars have responded its past two games, with back-to-back, 21-point victories over Benedictine-Springfield and Missouri Baptist, and shooting above 50.0 percent in both outings.
Through 20 games, the Cougars are scoring 82.5 points, shooting 50.5 percent from the field, while surrendering just 65.0 points and holding teams to 40.4 percent shooting.
"They are talented from both the inside and the outside," said head coach
Nick Totta. "When dealing with a team like that, we have to get them into a position where they aren't comfortable and force them to take unwanted shots."
Devin Griffin leads the team, averaging 16.2 points, hitting 46 percent of his shots, including 45.8 percent from beyond the three-point arc and is second on the team in assists, dishing out 52. Jeremy Nolen is another shooting threat the Owls will need to keep an eye on, as he is scoring 9.1 points and is second on the team in rebounds with 106 (5.3 rpg).
Tanner Sutton (8.6 ppg) and Patric Massey (8.5 ppg), are players that can fill up the stat sheet offensively or defensively, as Sutton is shooting 79 percent from the free throw line, while Massey is hitting a team-high 64 percent of his shots from the floor and has grabbed down a team-high 111 rebounds.
This will be the 12
th meeting between the two schools since 2007, with Columbia controlling the series, winning 10 of the match-ups.
Fans stay updated on wwuowls.com tomorrow evening for a full recap and score from Columbia, Mo.
