Box Score SPRINGFIELD, Ill.—After trailing by one point at halftime, the William Woods University men's basketball team was outscored 52-39 in the final frame against Benedictine University at Springfield and ended up falling 94-80 on Tuesday night.
The Owls (7-20; 5-12 AMC), were down 24-13 against the Bulldogs (12-13; 7-9 AMC) at the 11:25 mark, after Myles Harvell knocked in a two-pointer. WWU, however, went on a 17-6 run over six minutes of play, capped off by senior
Jonathon Nutt hitting a three-pointer and tied the score up 30-30, with five minutes and 35 seconds left in the half.
The two teams continued to trade baskets, but it was still BenU-Springfield up 42-36, with one minute and 50 seconds remaining. Freshman
Ryan Hill closed the gap for the Owls, as he scored the final five points, including a three-pointer with .13 seconds on the clock and put WWU down just one at 42-41, as the horn sounded.
William Woods shot 43.6 percent (17-of-39) in the half, but the Bulldogs couldn't miss, draining 51.6 (16-of-31) percent of its shots from the floor.
Jayson Saldana paced WWU with eight points, while Thomas Dillard, who came into the game averaging 13 points, had already eclipsed his season total, having 19 through 20:00 minutes of play.
What also gave the Bulldogs the early advantage in the game, was its scoring from beyond the arc, as BenU-Springfield went 7-of-11 from downtown.
At the 17:18 mark of the second half, the Owls took its first lead of the game (48-47), since the score was 4-3 in the first half, after
Blake Burgess earned the old fashioned three-point play.
On the Bulldogs next possession, it was Harvell striking again, hitting his two-point shot and gave the team its lead back at 49-48. The Bulldogs would then go on a 14-5 run and push its lead over the Owls up to 63-53, with 11 minutes and 56 seconds left in regulation.
The Owls would narrow the deficit down to 72-68 with just over six minutes on the clock, as Nutt hit his three-point attempt, but that would be as close as they would get, as the Bulldogs starting five proved to be too much for WWU, as BenU-Springfield went on to win by 14 and sweep the regular season series against William Woods.
The Owls struggled from the floor in the second half, hitting 35 percent of its shots and finished the game at 39.2 percent. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, ended the game scoring 50.8 percent of their shots from the field and after getting to the line just four times in the first half, they got to the charity stripe 26 times in the second frame, while WWU only got to the line six times.
Burgess led the William Woods offense, scoring a team-high 19 points on 7-of-18 shooting, and Nutt was the final Owl to score in double-figures, closing out with 13.
Matt Helle contributed nine points, while Saldana and Hill ended with eight points each.
The Bulldogs scored zero bench points, but their starting five did all the work, led by Dillard, scoring a game and career-high 34 points (12-of-17 shooting) and added seven boards. Nick Bennett also scored a career-high 21 points and went 4-of-7 from beyond the three-point arc.
Harvell netted 14 points, leading season scorer Justin Smith was held to 13 points, but dished out a game-high nine assists, while Marvin Leveille recorded a double-double, having 12 points and 14 rebounds.
The Owls will look to rebound on its final home game of the regular season on Senior Day against Mid-Continent on Thursday Feb. 20
th. Tip-off will start at 7:30 p.m., inside Anderson Arena.
Prior to the game, the team will honor its four seniors,
Blake Burgess,
Jonathon Nutt,
Dontre' Jenkins and
Seth Thomas for their careers wearing the WWU uniform.
