COLUMBIA, Mo. – The William Woods University men's basketball team looks for a big American Midwest Conference (AMC) road victory on Thursday, as the team rivals down I-70 for the rival match-up against Columbia College. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.
The Owls (11-17; AMC 8-12), are in search of hosting its second consecutive AMC tournament game in program history. After picking up a key 78-72 OT victory last Saturday on senior night over Park University, WWU is sitting in the eighth seed and has a one game advantage over Hannibal-LaGrange.
In the teams last win over the Pirates, William Woods honored its three seniors by capturing the team's second straight win, with four Owls ending the night in double figures, as two seniors paced the way.
Seniors,
Nate Bitner and
Derrick Hayes helped guide WWU in dominating fashion, as the duo totaled a combined 33 points on the night. Bitner finished with a team-high 17 points going 5-of-12 from the three-point line, as Hayes recorded a career-high 16 points and seven rebounds. Two other Owls had strong outings, as
Alec Mulvihill chipped in 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting, while
DJ Johnson amassed his second double-double performance on the year, posting 14 points and 10 rebounds.
On the season, Johnson leads the way for the Owls in several categories, which includes points (10.7 per game), rebounds (5.5 per game) and blocks with 18 on the year. Bitner, has pushed his average to double digits, 10 points per game, while shooting 38.7 percent from the three points line.
Two additional players that have been key impacts offensively for WWU are
Ryan Hill and
Alec Mulvihill, as both guards are averaging nine points per game and shooting over 45 percent from the floor.
The last time these two teams met this season, Columbia College controlled most of the match-up and went on to secure a 72-38 victory. The Owls were held to just 34.1 percent field goal shooting, and were a cold 0-of-10 from beyond the arc, while the Cougars had a hot second half outscoring WWU 43-17, which could arguably have been the difference of the game.
Columbia is currently 23-5 on the year and sitting in the second seed of the AMC with a record of 16-4. The Cougars have only lost one game in the month of February (4-1), with its one loss coming last week in the hands of Park University, however, CC bounced back with a 77-73 victory over Missouri Baptist University in its last outing on Saturday afternoon.
Offensively the Cougars are lead by Zach Rockers, who is averaging 13.1 points and 5.5 rebounds on the year, while Tanner Sutton is posting 10.7 points, as the guard is shooting over 40 percent from both the floor and three point line.
WWU is in hopes of grabbing its third straight win, as the team looks for some redemption to split the season series with the Cougars.
Fans stay updated on wwuwowls.com for a full recap and score from Columbia, Missouri tomorrow night.
