JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - In the first of two brief jaunts into exhibition play against NCAA opponents, William Woods (7-4) picked up a statement win over Division II Lincoln University (8-2), handing LU its first home loss of the season with a 71-69 win on Monday night.
Francis Okwuosah led all scorers with 20 points, also hauling in 10 rebounds for a double-double.
Nate Schwartze added 16 on the night, with
Henry Shannon III (12) and
Gacoby Jones Jr. (11) also hitting double figures.
With the team riding a five-game winning streak, nobody would have faulted head coach
Jordan Ashton for flipping the declaration on the contest before tipoff even with two starters (
Joey Brown IV,
DJ Purnell) missing from the lineup. But as soon as the ball was tossed, it was clear that Woods brought all of its intensity.
The Blue Tigers opened a quick 4-0 lead, but WWU answered right back, eventually stretching out to a six-point lead midway through the first half. The Owls made the most of quick transitions, with back-to-back fast break buckets by
Jared Crutcher and
Kyle Belgrave II sealing the 14-8 cushion with 11:25 on the clock.
Lincoln answered with a triple, but the lead changed hands five times - along with five ties - over the next nine minutes. The Blue Tigers were finally able to make their lead stick, closing out the half with three triples to take a 36-28 lead into the locker room.
Out of the intermission, Shannon led the comeback charge for Woods, scoring seven of WWU's points during a 12-4 run that wrestled the lead back from LU. Back-to-back threes by Jones and Schwartze answered a free throw by Tyson Robinson to put the Owls in front 48-41 with 13:25 to play.
A brief stretch of sloppy ball handing by WWU allowed Lincoln to equalize at 48-48, as the Owls turned the ball over three times, including one that bailed Lincoln out of a shot clock violation.
Okwuosah briefly reasserted WWU's lead with 10:34 on the clock, but the Owls weren't able to make the lead stick until the 4:27 mark. It was Okwuosah that made the lead stick, this time knocking home a triple on the break off an assist from Jones to put Woods in front 59-57 going into the media timeout. He punctuated the Owls lead with just under two minutes to play with another triple, putting WWU up 68-61.
Lincoln was able to channel its experience into a comeback attempt, keeping Woods scoreless for the next 1:43 while whittling a seven-point deficit into a 69-68 lead with 10 seconds to play.
The Owls finally broke out of their slump, as Jones raced down the court on the inbounds play and knocked down a three with just seven seconds on the clock, drawing a Blue Tigers timeout. Woods was able to pick up the stop, forcing a Robinson miss as the buzzer sounded to run out victorious.
Woods shot a stout 57.14 percent (16-28) in the second half, holding Lincoln to a 40.63 percent (13-32) pace. The Owls took full advantage of the transition offense, scoring 22 points on the break to just 11 for LU.
WWU closes out the calendar year with another exhibition, this time a mid-afternoon trip to UT-Martin. Tipoff against the Skyhawks is set for 2 p.m.
