SPRINGFIELD, Mo.- The Owls of William Woods (5-0) traveled south to take on KCAC member Evangel University (2-1) Wednesday night. The Valor, coming off a 21-11 season and a NAIA National Tournament appearance, looked to remain undefeated. William Woods opened the game off fast, tallying 48 points in the first half, which proved enough to carry them to an 84-71 win against the Valor.
"I thought we had a great first half overall and really set the tone," William Woods men's basketball coach Jordan Ashton said. "In the second half, we got comfortable, relaxed, and weren't attacking the same. Good teams like that are going to keep coming and not give up. We need to be better with putting teams away if we get a lead. I'm proud of how we stayed together, didn't get rattled by everything they were trying to do, and finished. Back to work. Another tough one this weekend."
Evangel, an undefeated team coming into today's game and national qualifier a year prior, came out of the gate slow against the Owls rock solid defense. William Woods started the game going basket for basket with the Valor until the 13-minute mark when Francis Okwuosah completed a tough shot in the paint, thanks to a beautiful feed from senior guard Nate Schwartze, to grow the Owls lead to five. Just four minutes later Jacob LaBounty sunk a pair at the line growing the building Owls lead to 10. The momentum stayed on the Owls side throughout the remainder of the first half, growing the lead to 20 points by the time the clock struck zeros (48-28). Okwuosah led the team in scoring with 13 in the half while draining a three-pointer from deep. The Woods, as a team, was surgically efficient in the half shooting just under 60% from the field for the half while wrangling in two time the number of rebounds as Evangel.
Act 2 favored the Valor in the scoring column as they outscored the Owls 43-36 shooting 49% from the field and holding Woods to 40% from the field and forcing 6 turnovers. Manrique Alvarado, a senior for the valor, proved to be too much for the Owls in the second half as he rattled off for 20 points in the half, leading all scorers. However, these late game heroics were in vain as the Valor could not complete the comeback.
William Woods outhustled the Valor throughout the game, winning most loose ball plays. Coach Ashton's team brought in an astounding 43 rebounds, 28 of which came on the defensive end limiting the second chance points for Evangel. The Owls also tallied 6 steals and 20 assists in the contest powering the team to their fifth win of the season. Top performers of the night include Francis Okwuosah (19 pts, 11 reb, 8 assists), familiar face Tre Titus shooting a perfect 7-7 from the field (15 pts, 5 reb), and Mr. 1000, Nate Schwartze (13 pts, 6 reb, 4 assists). This complete game effort by the Owls highlights a record for William Woods as this is their first ever 5-0 start to a season.
The Owls are back in action this Saturday in Anderson Arena when they take on (RV) Dordt University. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m. William Woods is hosting a Warming up with Woods event where all fans who bring some form of winter clothing to donate at the gate will be given free admission into the game.
