FULTON, Mo. - Fresh off earning American Midwest Conference Defensive Player of the Week, William Woods University's (4-0)
Kevin Taylor tallied a co-game-high 18 points (8-for-12 field goals and 2-for-3 3-pointers) and a game-high 10 rebounds for his second straight double-double to lead the Owls to a 79-70 home-opening victory over future conference opponent Central Methodist University (3-1) Saturday at Anderson Arena.
"I thought tonight we played well for about 30 minutes," William Woods men's basketball coach
Jordan Ashton said. "There was a stretch in the middle of the first half, then a stretch in the second half where we need to be better, but overall, we improved from our last game. We need to continue to lock into our principles and focus on the details."
While Taylor had the headline performance, three teammates joined him in scoring in double figures. Those three were
Francis Okwuosah with 18 points, seven rebounds, two steals and a block,
Nate Schwartze with 15 points (7-10 free throws), seven rebounds and six assists and
D'Mari Wiltz with 11 points (3-4 field goals and 5-6 free throw), four rebounds, four assists and four steals.
The Owls excelled early and took a 10-0 lead just 3:51 into the first half, with
Henry Shannon III posting seven of those points on a 3-pointer and two layups and Taylor three on his make from deep off a Schwartze defensive board from an Okwuosah block. Then, CMU narrowed its deficit to as low as five points on Will Hemme's 3-pointer with 10:57 to go in the half.
William Woods ensured the Eagles didn't get closer, with Okwuosah going on an individual 8-0 run to take a 13-point lead (23-10). After he hit a layup to start the run, Okwuosah knocked down back-to-back 3s, the first from an
Aaiden Ashton assist and the second from a Wiltz helper. CMU answered with an 8-0 run to narrow its deficit to 27-25; the Eagles scored their final four points of the run after forcing a turnover. And the Eagles eventually went in front for the first time at 31-30 when they six points unanswered, the final three on a Kevin James triple with 2:00 left in the first half.
To go back on top, the Owls drew fouls in back-to-back possessions and went 3-for-4 from the free-throw line in that time to put it at 33-31 WWU with 1:19 to go before halftime. Wiltz converted two free throws to give the Owls the lead, which they didn't relinquish. With :07 remaining, Taylor and Okwuosah collected an offensive board in the same drive before the latter got a layup to fall, which sent WWU into the locker room with a 35-31 advantage.
As they did to begin the first half, the Owls had a great start to the second half, going on a 12-3 run. And like the end of the first half, Okwusah answered the bell with six points and an offensive and defensive rebound each during that run; Taylor notched two defensive rebounds and went up for a slam dunk. While the Eagles never took the lead in the second half, it was anyone's game until The Woods went up by 14 points (73-59) with 3:32 left when it tallied nine points with no reply. In that stretch, four Owls made a shot:
Tre Titus started the run with a layup,
Aaiden Ashton drained a 3 off a Wiltz steal, Wiltz landed a jumper off his defensive rebound and Taylor capped the run with a layup.
After that, the narrowest CMU trimmed its deficit to was seven points with :30 left on a Brandon Tchouya three-point play. Those were the Eagles' final points, with Schwartze sinking two free throws to ice the game and finish the contest's scoring with :14 left.
CMU's only individual statistic it had the game-high in was three blocks from 6'9" forward Bol Tong. The Kansas City native also had 12 points (3-4 free throws) and six rebounds.
Although it lost the rebound battle for the first time this season with 32 rebounds (eight offensive) to the Eagles' 33 (nine offensive), William Woods led in nearly every other department. The Owls forced 15 turnovers, went 30-of-59 (50.8 percent) from the field, 6-of-19 (31.6 percent) from deep and 13-of-18 (72.2 percent) at the line, while CMU forced nine turnovers and made 25-of-57 (43.9 percent) field goals, 7-of-23 (30.4 percent) 3-pointers and 13-of-18 (72.2 percent) free throws.
William Woods is back on the road, facing Evangel University (2-0) at the school's brand-new gym, AGFinancial Arena, at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Springfield. Before the result was flipped to a forfeit, the Owls won 86-76 over the Valor on Halloween last season in Fulton.
"We've got another very tough one on Wednesday on the road," Ashton said. "We need to continue to work and be ready to go."
