FULTON, Mo. – Trailing by two, 74-72, with four seconds left the William Woods University men's basketball team had a shot to tie the game and force overtime but the Owls shot came up short and the Owls were defeated by Lindenwood University-Belleville, 74-72, in American Midwest Conference action on Thursday night.
 
DaShaun Stark led the Owls with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Darrien Dickey added 15 points and 11 rebounds and Brandon Vice scored 12 points in the loss. WWU shot 36.9 percent from the floor and were 3-for-18 on three pointers in the contest.
 
The Owls return to action on Thursday, February 15th when they travel to Conway, Arkansas to face Central Baptist College in AMC action. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.
 
Game Flow
The Lynx came out and scored the first five points of the contest and held a 7-2 lead over the Owls three minutes into the game. WWU answered right back with four from Brandon Vice and a three by Jason Walker and with 14:54 left the Owls led 9-7.
 
Lindenwood-Belleville and William Woods traded baskets over the next four minutes of the game with neither team taking a lead over three points. The Lynx grew its lead to five, 20-15, after a CJ Reeder jumper. The Lynx slowly grew the lead to ten, 27-17, after a jumper in the paint by Andrew Voss with 5:47 left in the half.
 
The Owls continued to battle and cut the lead in half, 34-29, with two minutes to go in the half. The lead would grow to seven, 39-32, heading to halftime.
 
Over the first four minutes of the second half, the Lynx grew its lead to 11, 47-36, after Voss hit a pair of free throws, WWU followed by scoring the next seven points and a layup by Codi Whitlock put the Owls down five, 47-42, with 13:30 left in the game.
 
With the lead down to five, the Lynx extended its lead back to double-figures before the Owls mounted another run. After a pair of free throws by Stark, the Owls found themselves down 61-55, with 6:18 left in the contest.
 
Four minutes later, with Dickey on the free throw line, the Owls trimmed the lead down to two, 68-66, after Dickey made both his free throws. WWU forced Martavian Payne into a turnover and went and scored on a Stark layup tying the game at 68-68 with 1:50 left.
 
Lindenwood-Belleville went down and scored, and the Owls came back and Jason Walker drove to the hoop and made a layup tying the game at 70-70. The next trip down, the Lynx Voss hit a jumper taking a two-point lead. After an Owl miss, Voss hit two free throws taking a 74-70 lead with 24 seconds remaining.
 
 After a miss shot, Walker got the rebound and put it back in and the Owls trailed by two with five seconds left. WWU had to foul and they fouled Payne who went and missed the front end of the bonus free throw. Dickey got the rebound and found Stark who had a shot to tie the game in the lane, but the shot rimmed out and Lindenwood-Belleville came away with a 74-72 victory over the Owls.
 
By the Numbers
38 – WWU scored 38 points in the paint in the contest
18 – DaShaun Stark led the Owls with 18 points
36.9 – The Owls shot 36.9 percent from the floor
19 – WWU had 19 offensive rebounds in the contest
3-for-18 – The Owls were 3-for-18 on three-pointers in the loss
12 – William Woods committed 12 turnovers in the contest
21-for-24 – WWU was 21-for-24 from the free throw line
2 – The Owls Stark and Darrien Dickey collected double-doubles
18 – The Owls bench scored 18 points in the game