HENDERSON, Tenn. – For the second straight season, the William Woods University men's basketball knocked Freed-Hardeman University out of the American Midwest Conference Tournament. This season the fifth seeded Owls defeated fourth seed Lions, 91-77, to advance to the AMC Semifinals.
 
DaShaun Stark led the Owls with 27 points in the contest on 8-of-12 shooting. Trey Mitchell followed scoring 15 points on 4-of-7 shooting. Torin Washington and Brandon Vice followed with 13 points and 11 points, respectfully. The Owls shot 60 percent from the floor in the contest, while holding the Lions to 46.8 percent shooting.
 
WWU returns to action on Saturday, March 4th when they host Missouri Baptist University at 3 p.m. at Anderson Arena in the AMC Semifinals.
 
Game Flow
Over the first five minutes of the contest, the Owls and Lions traded baskets and after a made field goal by Mika Nuolivirta of Freed-Hardeman the contest was tied at 9-9. WWU and Freed-Hardeman continued to trade baskets and the game was tied at 16-16 with 11:18 left in the first half. This was the fourth tie of the contest.
 
Antionio Winn put the Owls ahead 18-16 and his bucket sparked the Owls, who grew the lead to 24-16 after DaShaun Stark knocked down a three-pointer. William Woods continued to hold onto a seven-point lead until they led 30-24 with 6:47 left in the half.
 
Freed-Hardeman battled back and found themselves down a point, 36-35, with 3:48 left in the half and a few minutes later took the lead. The Lions grew the lead to six in the first half but the Owls closed the half by scoring the final four points and WWU trailed 44-42 at halftime.
 
The Owls came out on fire in the second half as they went on a 28-2 run over the first eight minutes of the second half. DaShaun Stark closed out the run by hitting a three-pointer, which point the Owls ahead, 70-46, with 11:55 left in the contest.
 
The Owls lead of 24 would be the biggest lead of the night and after leading 74-50, Freed-Hardeman slowly started making a comeback. WWU's offense went cold as they went two minutes without a point and Freed-Hardman cut the Owls lead down to 11 points, 74-63.
 
A jumper by Brandon Vice grew the lead back to 15 points, 78-63, with 4:54 left in the contest. Again, the Lions made a run at the Owls as they cut the 15 point lead down to 5 points, 80-75, with 1:23 left in the contest. Five points would be as close as the Lions would get as William Woods sealed the victory at the free throw line and knocked Freed-Hardeman out of the AMC Championship for the second straight season. WWU came away with a 91-77 victory
 
By the Numbers
91 – WWU scored 91 points in the contest
9 – The Owls hit nine three-pointers in the victory
60.0 – William Woods shot 60 percent from the floor in the win against Freed-Hardeman
22-of-25 – WWU was 22-of-25 from the free throw line in the win
27 – DaShaun Stark led the Owls with 27 points
4 – The Owls had four players score in double-figures
7 – Trey Mitchell and Brandon Vice led the Owls with seven rebounds each
17 – William Woods had 17 assists on the contest
51 – WWU's bench scored 51 points in the contest