Box Score COLUMBIA, Mo.— The William Woods men's basketball team suffered its fourth loss in the past five games, as the Owls fell 81-59 to No. 6-ranked Columbia College on Thursday night.
The Owls (6-15; 4-7 AMC), entered the game not having the services of guards
Jonathon Nutt and
Patrick Lewis running the point. Without two of its top three leading scorers, the team struggled in the first 20:00 minutes of play, hitting 25 percent (7-of-28) of its shots from the floor, including just 18 percent (2-of-11) from beyond the three-point arc.
The Cougars (19-2; 10-1 AMC) jumped out to a 6-0 lead on the Owls in the first few minutes of play, but senior
Blake Burgess got the Owls on the board with a fast-break lay-up and now WWU trailed 6-2 at the 17:49 mark.
Columbia College couldn't miss from the field in the half and extended its lead out to 13 points (18-5), after Jeremy Nolen nailed a three-pointer with 14 minutes and 23 seconds remaining. Nolen, a threat all season from downtown for the Cougars, led all scorers in the first frame with 12 points.
The Owls narrowed the lead down to 13 points at 27-14, after
Nate Bitner drained his three-point shot, but that would be as close as they would get the final six minutes of the half, as CC headed to the locker room up 41-20. Bitner led the Owls with seven points, while Burgess contributed five rebounds.
Burgess started the second half well for WWU, scoring the team's first six points and put the Owls down 45-26 at the 17:16 mark, but like they did throughout the entire game, the Cougars had an answer for every Owls bucket.
Columbia went on an 11-2 run and pushed its lead to a game-high 28 points (56-28), with 13 minutes and 55 seconds remaining in regulation, which allowed the Cougars to hold off a late Owls run and go on for the 22-point victory.
"We played better in the second half, but missed some open looks," said head coach
Nick Totta. "In my mind, we lost the game in the first half with poor offensive execution."
William Woods shot 35 percent from the field in the game, and they were led by senior
Dontre' Jenkins scoring a team and season-high 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting. Bitner was the final Owl to reach double-figures, scoring 10 points and adding five boards.
Burgess closed out the evening with nine points and a team-high seven rebounds, while
Ryan Hill and
Austin Lowery contributed nine and seven points respectively on the night.
Columbia shot 62.5 percent in the second half and ended the game with an impressive 52.5 percent shooting from the floor. Senior Devin Griffin led all scorers with 24 points on 9-of-16 shooting, while Nolen added 17 points and Patric Massey notched a double-double, having 10 points and 11 rebounds.
The Owls will look to snap its two-game skid back in front of the home crowd against Williams Baptist College on Saturday Feb. 1
st. Tip-off will start at 4:00 p.m.
Fans stay updated on wwuowls.com throughout the rest of the 2014 season for full previews and recaps on the men's basketball team.
