KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Despite a double-double performance from transfer DJ Johnson, The William Woods University men's basketball team suffered a 73-63 loss on the road against Avila University.
 
The Owls (1-3) went basket for basket with the Eagles in the beginning of the first half.  After only trailing by four going into halftime, the Owls only hit nine field goals and were outscored 33-27 in the second half.
 
At the 11th minute mark DJ Johnson found teammate Jarett Boss, who sank a three-pointer to tie the game for the fourth time at 12-12 but the Owls wouldn't regain the lead for the rest of the half.
 
The Eagles went on a 28-17 run to finish the first half, going into the locker room with a 40-36 lead over the Owls. Avila shot a 41 percent from the field and went 4-of-8 from the charity stripe.
 
WWU went 14-23 from the field, shooting a 60 percent from the field, however going 5-for-13 from the free-throw line. Johnson, led the way for the Owls, as he tallied 12 points and 6 rebounds.
 
At the 14th minute mark in the second half, Alec Mulvhill closed the gap for the Owls, as he sank a three pointer to put WWU down just one point at 44-43.
 
Later in the half, AU leading scorer, Sedrick Johnson hit a field goal to give the Eagles its largest lead of the second half 69-59 but the Owls tried to claw back after a couple made free-throws from Austin Lowery and a field goal from Boss, cutting the lead to 69-63 with a minute and a half left of play.
 
That would be as close as the Owls would get, as the Eagles leading scorer proved to be too much for WWU, while hitting a few late free throws, finishing the night leading all scorers with 21 points, as AU went on to win by 10.
 
William Woods ended the night shooting a 50 percent from the field compared to Avila's 37 percent.  Although, the Eagles were able to collect 72 shots on the night compared to the Owls 46 and what else gave AU the advantage was its defensive pressure forcing WWU to commit 26 turnovers in the match-up
 
Johnson led the William Woods offense, recording his first double-double of the season, scoring a team-high 18 points and 15 rebounds. Boss was the next Owl to score in double-figures and ended the night with 11 points, while Darrien Dickey contributed nine points. Klayton Kuschel and Mulvhill ended the night with seven and eight points each.
 
The Owls return to action on Saturday, as the team gets ready to host Bellevue  University. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m.
 
Fans check back on wwuowls.com for a full preview of this match-up.

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