Box Score HENDERSON, Tenn.—The William Woods University men's basketball team dropped its regular season finale against No. 6-ranked Freed-Hardeman University, falling 89-62 on Saturday afternoon.
The Owls (8-22; 6-14 AMC), struggled all game from the floor, especially in the first half, as the team was held to just 27.6 percent (8-of-29) shooting from the field and 14.3 percent (2-of-14) from the three-point arc.
At the 13:48 mark in the first half,
Trey Lacy hit a three-pointer for WWU, which put the team down by just five at 11-6. Freed-Hardeman (25-4; 18-2 AMC), however, rattled off a 20-5 run, putting distance between them and the Owls and were up 31-11 with nine minutes and 20 seconds left in the first frame.
The Lions would maintain the 20-point lead the rest of the half, and headed to the locker room ahead 51-25. Like it had been in their previous meeting at Anderson Arena, FHU's size advantage was a problem for the Owls, as they outrebounded WWU 30-10 in 20:00 minutes of play.
Patrick Lewis led the Owls with eight points, while Kyle Teichmann totaled 11 points and Orlando Bass had grabbed down five rebounds for FHU.
After shooting 46.3 percent in the first half, the Lions offense still couldn't be slowed down, as they shot 51.6 percent (16-of-31) in the second half and continued to hold off the Owls until the final horn sounded, as Freed-Hardeman won by 27 points.
The Owls shot 33.3 percent in the game, and were led by
Jayson Saldana tying his career-high with 15 points, all of which came from downtown, while Lacy set a career-high for himself, netting 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting off the bench. Lewis and
Blake Burgess totaled nine points and
Matt Helle netted eight for the Owls.
The Lions shot 48.6 percent in the game and 44.6 percent from downtown, with Teichmann pacing the offense, scoring a game-high 19 points (8-of-10 shooting) and having nine rebounds. Ben Meis and Reginald Gilmore were the other FHU players to reach the double-digit plateau, totaling 11 points each. Freed-Hardeman also went a perfect 11-of-11 at the free throw line and outrebounded the Owls 48-25 in the game.
Despite the loss to the Lions, the Owls have earned the No. 8 seed in the upcoming American Midwest Conference playoffs that is set to begin Tuesday night at 7 p.m. and will host the programs first ever postseason game against No. 9 seed Missouri Baptist.
Fans stay updated on wwuowls.com on Monday afternoon for a full preview of the game against the Spartans.
To view the entire AMC men's basketball postseason bracket click
HERE.
