FULTON, Mo. - After beating two unbeaten opponents over its last two games, (RV) William Woods University (5-1) was on the losing end of an undefeated matchup Saturday, falling 79-75 to (RV) Dordt University (6-0) at Anderson Arena.
"We didn't deserve to win that game tonight," William Woods men's basketball coach
Jordan Ashton said. "Dordt was tougher and played harder, which can't happen. They had that grit and fight throughout the entire game, and we just went through the motions for the first 20 minutes. Hopefully we see now that we can definitely be beat if we don't control the things we talk about every day. We need to learn from tonight and be better going forward."
Regardless of the result, there were several standout performances for the Owls.
Nate Schwartze scored a game-high 26 points (6-6 free throws and four 3-pointers), while
Kevin Taylor and
D'Mari Wiltz had a co-game-high 10 boards. Additionally, Taylor notched 17 points and recorded one offensive rebound, while Wiltz posted 12 points, five offensive boards, five assists and a block.
Typically, winning the rebounding battle is the deciding statistic, but it wasn't in this instance, with the Owls collecting 46 boards (17 offensive) to the Defenders' 27 (five offensive). Instead, the telling number was WWU turning it over 12 times compared to Dordt's four; the Defenders scored 19 points off turnovers, while the Owls tallied two.
For the first six minutes of the first half, it was back and forth, with William Woods going up by as much as three points twice, the second time at 13-10 when
Francis Okwuosah hit a layup from a
Ty'Shon Pannell assist after
Kevin Taylor pulled down a defensive rebound. Then, Dordt scored 12 points without reply to take a 22-13 lead. The Owls answered with an 11-2 run to tie it at 24 with 6:55 left in the first half; Schwartze registered seven points (one 3) in that stretch. However, the Defenders ended the first half by out-scoring WWU 17-5 to hold a 41-29 advantage at halftime.
Dordt stayed on top by double digits for the first 7:01 of the second half, with Schwartze converting two free throws to cut the Owls' deficit to nine points (51-42). But the Defenders went back up by 10 points two more times - the last instance at 56-46 - before William Woods finally trimmed its deficit to a manageable three points (56-53) by tallying seven unanswered points; Taylor had five points in the run, making a 3-pointer and a layup, and he brought down a rebound that led to Wiltz's inside bucket that capped the streak.Â
The narrowest the Owls reduced their deficit to after that was two points twice, the final time at 64-62 on
Tre Titus' triple with 6:31 remaining. With a minute left, the Defenders were in front 76-70. WWU didn't go down without a fight, bringing it to a one-possession game at 78-75 with :08 left, thanks to Wiltz's three-point play. Unfortunately for the Owls, they missed their game-tying 3-pointer with :02 left and dropped a tight decision instead of sending it to overtime.
William Wood finished 30-for-68 (44.1 percent) from the field, 7-for-30 (23.3 percent) from deep and 8-for-9 (88.9 percent) from the free-throw line, and Dordt made 30-of-59 (50.8 percent) field goals, 9-of-21 (42.9 percent) 3-pointers and 10-of-16 (62.5 percent) free throws.
The Defenders didn't have the same caliber of outstanding individual games as the Owls. Still, one of their players who did fall under that umbrella was Luke Rankin - Dordt's all-time career assist leader with 591 - who was a point and an assist shy of a double-double, recording nine points, nine assists (game-high) and a steal.
The Owls open American Midwest Conference play with another formidable opponent, taking on No. 11 Central Baptist College (5-1) at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at A.R. Reddin Fieldhouse in Conway, Ark. William Woods seeks revenge after the Mustangs beat the Owls 79-71 in the AMC Tournament semifinals last season.
