FULTON, Mo. – The William Woods University men's basketball team opened the 2019-20 season in front of their home crowd against Bethel College (Kan.) Saturday afternoon. The Owls lost 77-62 in the home-opener.
The Owls next compete at the Columbia College Classic on Nov. 1-2. They face No. 25 Peru State College on Friday before seeing Olivet Nazarene University (Ill.) on Saturday.
By The Numbers
17 –
Tyriel Nelson scored a team-high 17 points, shooting 6-for-10 from the field.
10 –
D'Aaron Owens and
Ian Hodges added 10 points each to the game.
7 –
D'Aaron Owens pulled down a team-high seven boards.
4 –
Treshawn Gause dished in four assists.
3 –
Ian Hodges grabbed a floor-high three steals.
Game Flow
The game started with two minutes of silence from both ends before the Owls sunk two to take a 4-0 lead. BC answered back with a 7-0 run, but a three from
Andrew Nett tied it up at 7 all. The game was knotted up four more times before a three from
Ian Hodges put the Owls up by three, 18-15.
A down low bucket from Hodges gave the Owls a four-point lead, their largest since the beginning of the game, but BC tied it back up with two consecutive buckets and took the lead with a free throw with 6:29 to play in the first, 27-26.
After BC tied the game for the 10
th time in the first half, they went on a 6-0 run to take a four-point lead, 35-31. BC took a seven-point lead with 1:19 on the clock, but
D'Aaron Owens hit a three with 1:00 on the clock to send the game into halftime with WWU trailing 41-37.
BC jumped to a 13-point lead to start the second half.
Makenzie Fessler broke the Owls' silence after five minutes of play, but the damage was done. BC pushed their lead to 18 halfway through the second half, 61-43.
WWU cut the game back to 13 with back-to-back jumpers from
Jason Mason and Owens, but BC pushed their lead back to 17. Back-to-back threes from
Mike Robinson and
Tyriel Nelson cut the game to 11 with 3:42 to play.
The Owls resorted to fouling in the final minute to stop the clock, putting BC up by 15 with 50 seconds to play. After a missed WWU jumper, BC grabbed the rebound and held the ball until time expired, ending the game with a 77-62 WWU loss.
