Story written by Sports Information student worker Julia WellsFULTON, Mo.—The William Woods University men's basketball team suffered a tough loss on Wednesday night inside Anderson Arena, as the Owls fell 85-82, against Avila University.
The Owls (1-3), had a chance to tie the game up with just over .08 seconds left, but
Kevin House's 3-pointer attempt, came up just short as the buzzer sounded.
"We've played four really good teams', which all could be ranked at some point, so we haven't played a soft schedule by any means," said head coach
Nick Totta. "The teams' we are playing, they have a lot of veterans, so we are still meshing, blending and finding ourselves a bit. Despite that, we are a good team, we're going to get better, but we've got to keep believing it's going to happen."
He added, "Tonight we did some better things, but our basketball IQ has got to improve. In tight games like that, against good teams', we had 22 turnovers, they had 18 and when you have four more than them, it gives them extra chances to score."
WWU, shot 45.9 percent from the floor and 39.3 percent from downtown against the Eagles (3-0). Leading the way for the Owls, was
Deon Pettigrew, who scored a season-high 23 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including going 6-of-9 from beyond-the-arc.
Bryan DeGeare, added 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting, while House shot 50.0 percent (5-of-10) from the floor, for 14 points, while adding a team-high seven assists and six boards.
Trey Mitchell, was the fourth starter to reach double-figures, as he posted a season-high 13 points.
Avila University, meanwhile, shot 40.0 percent from the floor, 41.7 percent from downtown and made it count from the free throw line, hitting 90.5 percent of its attempts.
Coming into the game, Sedrick Johnson was averaging 26.0 points and tonight he continued his hot-shooting, as the guard scored a season-high 38 points on 11-of-23 shooting. Johnson, also went a perfect 12-of-12 from the charity-stripe, while leading the team in rebounds (10) and steals (six).
"When you play a team like Avila, its either focus on one guy and let other guys beat you, or play that guy straight up and if he gets his, he will," said Totta. "I thought for the most part, we did that against Johnson."
Jeremy Fennell, scored 15 points for the Eagles, while Nduka Ezeamii added 12 points and eight boards.
It was a close game throughout the first half, but a Mitchell basket at the 8:54 mark, tied the score up at 23-all. The Eagles, would respond, with a 12-4 run, with Johnson capping it off making both of his free throws, which extended the teams' lead out to 35-27, with 5:25 left.
At the 2:55 mark, WWU trailed 45-39, but House came down the court and found DeGeare, who buried his 3-pointer, which cut the deficit down to 45-42. A few possessions later, House got fouled and was able to make both of his free throws, putting WWU down 45-44, with just under 2:00 minutes remaining.
After Trey Bales went 1-of-2 from the line with .52 seconds left, the Eagles were up 48-46. House missed his shot attempt with .36 seconds left, but DeGeare grabbed down the offensive board and scored the put-back, tying the game up at 48-48, heading into halftime.
The Owls shot an impressive 53.1 percent from the field and outrebounded the Eagles, 24-20. House led WWU individually, having 12 points and three assists. Avila, was held to a field goal percentage of 39.5, but Johnson was on fire, having 22 of the teams' 48 points.
In the second half, Avila, was up 55-51, after Fennell hit a 3-pointer at the 17:20 mark. On its next possession, DeGeare hit his two point shot and then WWU forced an Eagles turnover.
Off the turnover, House found Pettigrew, who buried his 3-pointer and in the process, gave the Owls a 56-55 advantage, with 16:29 left in regulation.
The two teams' would continue to match basket-for-basket, but the Owls would stretch its lead out to 66-61, at the 12:15 mark, after Lowery made both of his free throws.
William Woods, would hold its marginal lead as the clock continued to tick down, but the team gained some breathing room at 8:57, after Pettigrew hit another 3-pointer, which gave the Owls its largest lead of the game, at 74-67.
Over the next six minutes, the Eagles would slowly chip at the Owls advantage, and at the 2:44 mark, its effort paid off. Ezeamii missed his put-back attempt, but got his own miss and scored in the paint, which tied the scoreboard up at 79-79, for the fourth time in the outing.
After getting the defensive rebound, Johnson, was fouled and went on to make both of his free throws, which put Avila ahead 81-79. An Ezeamii basket with 1:24 left, put the Eagles ahead 83-79, but Pettigrew cut into that lead quickly, as he drained his three point shot, and now the Owls were down 83-82, with .58 seconds on the clock.
Fennell, made two free throws with .10 seconds left and that proved to be enough, as Owls came up short, 85-82.
WWU will return to the court on November 19
th, as they jump into American Midwest Conference (AMC) play and they will host Lyon College. Tip-off wills start at 7:30 p.m.
Fans make sure to stay updated on wwuowls.com next week for a full preview of its game against the Scots.
