NORTH NEWTON, Kan. - For the second time in as many days, William Woods (2-4) found itself in need of a big second half comeback, this time facing Bethel College (2-3) on its home floor. Unfortunately for Woods, they would come up short again, falling 85-80 to the Threshers.
Nate Schwartze and
Henry Shannon III each knocked in 20 points for the Owls on the night.
With the return of Carmelo Yakubu to the Bethel lineup and a much less supportive audience than the capacity crowd at Anderson Arena, William Woods struggled out of the gates on Saturday. Woods wasn't able to hit double digits on the scoreboard until nearly half of the opening 20 minutes had elapsed, and trailed by 10 or more for 12:10 of the first half.
The Owls were able to find a rhythm at the end of the half as
Xavier Iyeyemi and
Joey Brown IV bookended triples around a three from Eli Wiseman to spark the WWU offense. Shannon had a pair of big dunks in the closing moments of the half, with the second coming after a block by
Francis Okwuosah. Shannon knocked home a jumper on WWU's final possession to close the gap to eight and snagged a crucial rebound to close the half without letting BC take a double-digit lead into the locker room.
Bethel tried to reestablish itself coming out of halftime, opening a 42-34 lead into a 53-39 cushion over the first two-and-a-half minutes, but Schwartze found Shannon wide open for a triple to spark a 20-4 run for the Woods. The six-minute span saw WWU come from 14 down to three up with 11:19 to play.
The teams traded the lead back and forth down the stretch, with neither team able to extend past a two-possession lead. Unfortunately for the Woods, after Jared Richardson drew a foul on a fast break layup that tied the game at 80-80 and converted the three-point play with 31 seconds left, Woods was unable to find an open look at the basket.
William Woods outshot Bethel 54.1 percent (33-61) to 50 percent (23-46) from the floor, but the Threshers connected on nine of their 18 chances from three-point range to just 6 of 22 for WWU, and Bethel went to the line 39 times in the game to just 14 for Woods, claiming a 30-8 advantage in charity points.
The Owls return to the friendly confines of Anderson Arena on Saturday, Dec. 18, hosting Roosevelt University. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m.
