FULTON, Mo. – While four Owls led the way in double-digits, the William Woods University men's basketball team cruised past American Midwest Conference newcomer St. Louis College of Pharmacy, 78-50 Thursday night.
 
The Owls (6-10; 3-5 AMC), controlled the first half, after a slow start in the first 10:00 minutes of play. Junior, Jarett Boss gave the Owls its first lead of the game (12-10) after Darrien Dickey connected with him for a easy two point bucket.
 
William Woods soon turned a hot switch on offensively and took command, as Nate Bitner sank his fourth three-pointer of the half at the 5:45 mark, making the score 26-14.
 
Then with less than a minute to play in the first half, Bitner forced an Eutectic turnover and Dj Johnson went down the court to convert it into two points, extending the Owls lead to its largest of the half (15) and sending the team to the locker room with a comfortable 38-26 lead.
 
The Owls shot a hot 50 percent from both the field (14-of-28) and three point line (6-of-12) led by Bitner with 12 points, as he drained four three-pointers in the first frame. However, SCP forward, Gozie Uzendu led all scorers at the half with 13 points, shooting 66 percent from the floor.
 
WWU came out of the locker room right where they left off in the first half, after Bitner nailed his fifth three-pointer of the game from the baseline corner, pushing the Owls lead to 43-26.
 
Shortly after, sophomore Ryan Hill took the rein in the Owls offense, as he scored 6-of-8 of the teams points within a 4:00 minute span, which gave WWU a 55-32 lead with 13:23 left to play in regulation.
 
St. Louis College of Pharmacy tried to fight back in the match-up but the Owls defense remained strong and maintained a double-digit lead for the rest of the game.
 
WWU closed out the game on a 10-2 run, securing the 78-50 victory, collecting the team's second straight AMC win and handing the Eutectics its seventh conference loss on the season.
 
The Owls ended the night shooting 48 percent from the field (16-of-34) and a 42 percent from beyond the arc, while holding SCP to making only 31 percent of their shots from the field and 3-of-12 (25 percent) from the three point line.
 
Leading the night for the Owls, with a stellar performance, was Bitner who tied his career-high of five three-pointers made in a game, recording 15 points on the night.
 
Hill, the Owls leading scorer, ended the night second in scoring with 12 points, going 5-of-12 from the field and collecting six rebounds.
 
Austin Lowery, a St. Charles, Missouri native, netted 10 points in the Owls victory. He also handed out a game-high six assists, which pushes his total on the year to a team-high 53.
 
The last Owl to score in double-digits was senior, Derrick Hayes, who also recorded 10 points on the night, as he went an astonishing 5-of-6 from the field.
 
WWU forward, Jack Mueller also had an impressive outing, in just his third game on the season due to an injury, led the Owls on the boards as he grabbed a career-high
10 rebounds while chipping in eight points on the night.
 
"It is huge to get the momentum going into our third AMC game this week against Park," said head coach Nick Totta. " We want to head into there feeling somewhat good about ourselves."
 
Totta added, "We still aren't where we need to be or where we can be as a team but I think tonight we played more like we are capable of."
 
The Owls look to use these two back-to-back AMC wins to build momentum as they return to the court on Saturday evening, as the team pays a visit to Park University. Tip-off is set for 4:00 p.m.
 
Fans check back on wwuowls.com for a full preview of this AMC match-up against the Pirates and Owls.

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