PARKVILLE, Mo. - Like its previous game, William Woods University (2-0) controlled the floor in the second half en route to a 56-38 victory over future conference opponent Benedictine College (0-2) in the Remy Williams Memorial Invitational Friday at Breckon Sports Center.
The Owls' dominant second half wasn't the only similarity to their season opener a week ago, as their two Iowa Wesleyan University transfers,
Francis Okwuosah and
Henry Shannon III, guided the team again. Okwuosah registered a game-high 20 points (8-14 field goals and 4-7 3-pointers) and 12 rebounds for his first double-double this season and fifth in two seasons as an Owl. His teammate throughout college, Shannon, also posted his first double-double on the year and fifth in two years with WWU, tallying 19 points (6-10 field goals and 7-9 free throws) and 10 rebounds.
Displaying they're team leaders, Shannon and Okwusoah made the shots that tied and then gave the Owls the lead for good early in the first half. After the Ravens went up by as much as three points twice at 3-0 and 5-2, Shannon put down a dunk and hit his and-1 attempt to tie it at 5, then two WWU possessions later, Okwuosah knocked down a 3 to hand the Owls the lead the rest of the way at 8-5 with 14:39 left in the first half.
Despite the Owls holding the advantage from that point on, they weren't up by more than five points in the first half. Shannon made another highlight reel dunk to give WWU its five-point cushion at 17-12 with 6:43 to go in the half. From there, the Owls were outscored 9-6 by the Ravens to end the first half as WWU took a 23-21 lead into the locker room.
It wasn't the Owls' defense that made the first half close; their offense did. While WWU converted 5-of-5 free throws in the first half, it only made 8-of-28 field goal attempts; Benedictine went 1-of-4 on free throws and 9-of-23 from the field.Â
In the second half, the Owls guarded their assignments to near perfection and hit their shots more efficiently: WWU scored 12-of-26 field goals and 5-of-7 free throws, and the Ravens made 6-of-25 field goals and 2-of-3 free throws.
Beginning the second half with a remarkable stretch, the Owls went on a 23-7 run to hold a 20-point lead (46-28) with 9:50 remaining in the contest. Okwuosah and Shannon each had 10 points during that scoring surge, with the former draining two 3-pointers. From there, both teams scored 10 points before the final buzzer. Six of The Woods' final 10 points were from
Nate Schwartze - all his points in the matchup - who got the points in three ways: a fastbreak layup, free throw and 3-pointer.
William Woods notched 45 rebounds, forced 14 turnovers and went 20-of-54 from the field, 6-of-27 from deep and 10-of-12 at the free throw line, while Benedictine had 22 rebounds, forced 20 turnovers and converted 15-of-48 field goals, 5-of-25 3s and 3-of-7 free throws.
The Owls play their final game in the Remy Williams Memorial Invitational against host Park University (0-1) at 6 p.m. Saturday.
