HENDERSON, Tenn. – The No. 19 William Woods University men's basketball team shot a season-low 35 percent from the floor on Saturday afternoon as the Owls were defeated by Freed-Hardeman University, 90-64.
 
Trey Mitchell led the Owls with 16 points for the contest. Deon Pettigrew followed with 13 points and Torin Washington and DaShaun Stark scored 10 points apiece to round out the double-figure scores for the Owls. Klayton Kuschel and Brandon Vice led the team with seven rebounds each.
 
Freed-Hardeman was on fire from behind the arc for the contest as the Lions were 15-of-24 for the contest shooting 62.5 percent from three-point range. Austin Dempsey led the Lions with 25 points. Dempsey made six three-pointers in the contest.
 
William Woods returns to action on Tuesday, January 10th when they host College of the Ozarks in non-conference action. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. at Anderson Arena.
 
Game Flow
Jonny Woolf came out and hit a three-pointer in the first 45 seconds of the first half to get the Owls a 3-0 lead over the Lions. Woolf was not done as just over a minute later, Woolf hit a jumper to score the first five points of the contest for WWU. With the game tied at 5-5, Fitzgerald Hopkins hit a three-pointer putting the Lions ahead, 8-5, with 16:32 to go in the first half.
 
A field goal by Trey Mitchell tied the game at 10-10 and DaShaun Stark put the Owls ahead 12-10 with 13:36 left in the half. The Owls and Lions traded leads and with the score tied at 17-17, Freed-Hardeman scored the next five points taking a 21-17 lead over the Owls.
 
After trailing by five, William Woods came back and tied the game at 21-21 after a Brandon Vice jumper. However, the Lions answered with an 8-2 run taking an 29-23 lead over the Owls. With 7:12 left in the half.
 
Freed-Hardeman continued to click on the offensive end as they stretched the lead to 12 points, 39-27, late in the first half. WWU continued to battle and after trailing by 12, the Owls trimmed the lead down to eight, 43-35, after a Torin Washington jumper. The Owls found themselves down by that score at halftime.
 
After battling back to trim the lead down to single-digits before halftime, Mitchell hit a three-pointer putting the Owls down five, 43-38. However, after trimming the lead to five points, the Lions went on a 13-2 run stretching its lead to 15 points, 56-40, over the Owls with 14:12 left in the contest.
 
The Owls offense stayed cold and the Lions continued to stretch its lead as a three-pointer by Trevor Randolph put Freed-Hardeman ahead by 22 points, 68-46. Torin Washington hit a pair of free throws with 10:15 left, but then the Owls did not score over the next three minutes of the contest before he broke the scoreless streak for the Owls with a jumper.
 
After a Dempsey three-pointer, the Owls found themselves down 30, 80-50, with 4:35 left in the contest. The Owls got the Lions lead down to 24, 88-64, after a Deon Pettigrew four-point play but that would be as close as the Owls would get as the Owls would fall to Freed-Hardeman, 90-64.
 
By the Numbers
16 – Trey Mitchell scored a game-high 16 points for the Owls
7 – Klayton Kuschel and Brandon Vice led the Owls with seven rebounds each
24% - WWU shot 24 percent from on three-pointers for the game as they were 6-of-25
35% - William Woods shot a season-low 35 percent from the field
4 – The Owls had four players score in double-figures in the contest
15 – WWU committed 15 turnovers in the contest
15 – Freed-Hardeman hit 15 three-pointers in the win over the Owls