Box Score COLUMBIA, Mo.—The William Woods University men's basketball 2013-14 season came to a close in the American Midwest Conference Quarterfinals, as despite a valiant effort, the Owls fell to No. 1 seed Columbia College 79-65 on Thursday night.
The Owls (9-23; 6-14 AMC), went step-for-step with the Cougars (29-2; 19-1 AMC) in the first half, as the teams largest deficit was just eight points and WWU was able to take the lead on two different occasions.
After a back and forth battle early on, the Cougars held a 24-16 lead on the Owls at the 9:05 mark, after Malik Ray hit his two-pointer. WWU, however, would go on an 8-2 run, capped off by
Nate Bitner knocking in both of his free throws, which tied the game up at 26-26 for the second time in the game, with five minutes and 38 second left in the first frame.
CC would regain the lead at 31-29, as Wendell Crowder hit one of the teams four three-pointers in the half, but that lead was short-lived as Bitner came down the court just under .45 seconds later and drained his three-pointer, putting WWU ahead 32-31 for the first time in the game with just over 4:00 minutes left in the half.
Seth Thomas would push the Owls lead up to two at 35-33, knocking in a three-pointer at the 2:00 minute mark. Columbia, however, would close out the half on a 7-1 run and head to the locker room ahead 40-36.
William Woods shot 46.2 percent (12-of-26) from the floor and 87.5 percent (7-of-8) from the charity stripe in the half, led by Bitner totaling a game-high 11 points. The Cougars shot 53.6 percent (15-of-28) from the field and they were led by Ray and Derrick Dilworth totaling seven points apiece.
The Owls, who shot 54 percent in the second half against Missouri Baptist its last time out, went cold in Columbia tonight, hitting just 31 percent (9-of-29) of its shots, which doomed the team to start the final frame.
Columbia was able to take advantage of the Owls shots not going down, as they went on a 22-4 run in 11:00 minutes and extended its lead out to its largest of the game at 22 points (62-40) at the 9:08 mark.
WWU would find its groove again and would narrow the lead down to 12 points, as
Blake Burgess made his two-pointer with just 2:00 minutes left in regulation, but that would be as close as the Owls would get, as Columbia held on for the 14-point victory.
"We played well offensively in the first half," said head coach
Nick Totta. "We shared the ball well, but didn't do that in the second half, which set us back."
Burgess, a Jacksonville, Ill., native played fantastic in his final game as an Owl, scoring a game-high 17 points on 4-of-8 shooting and totaled four rebounds. Bitner finished with 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting, while
Jonathon Nutt, netted 10 (5-of-9 shooting) and tied for the team in rebounds with
Matt Helle, having five.
Columbia finished the game shooting 50 percent from the field and had five players in double-figures, led by Dilworth, totaling 15 points off the bench, while Ray and Patric Massey combined to miss just two shots on the night (9-of-11), finishing with 11 points each. Guard Devin Griffin was limited to 10 points on 2-of-10 shooting, but was joined by Tanner Sutton in the double-digit category who also netted 10.
The loss ends the careers for seniors Burgess, Nutt,
Dontre' Jenkins and
Seth Thomas, all of whom hold numerous records while wearing the WWU uniform and had fantastic careers while playing under head coach
Nick Totta.
"I am proud fo the seniors and I appreciate the time and effort they gave to the program," said Totta. "They will surely be missed," he added.
Fans stay updated on wwuowls.com later this month for a full recap on the 2013-14 men's basketball season.
