FULTON, Mo. - Nate Schwartze and Henry Shannon II each had 18 points for William Woods (17-8, 9-4 AMC) but
Ty'Shon Pannell was always in the right place at the right time to keep the momentum flowing for the Owls as they handed (RV) Central Baptist College (22-5, 12-1 AMC) its first conference loss on Thursday night. The Owls never trailed in 84-68 win, holding on to a double-digit lead from the 11:35 mark of the first half on.
With postseason seeding on the line, the atmosphere inside Anderson Arena was already on point as the Owls settled in for the opening tap. The Mustangs won the jump, but head coach
Jordan Ashton had his squad dialed in on defense, and Woods forced off-balance three-point attempts by Sage Borbon and former Texas Tech player Deshawn Corprew. The stops got the crowd fired up, and the home team fed off the energy, romping out to a 9-2 lead at the 15:14 mark.
The Owls forced four CBC turnovers during the run, with
Lavel Harris picking off a pass by Corprew after the senior had grabbed a defensive rebound, then finding Schwartze for an open triple. The Mustangs briefly closed the gap to 11-7 with 14:17 to play,
Woods uncorked a 12-0 run, with Pannell forcing a fruitless Mustang timeout with a knock-down trey at the 10:13 mark. As the run tapered off, CBC managed to close from a 23-7 deficit to trail 33-21 with just under three and a half minutes left in the half.
Down the stretch, WWU missed five straight shots and was in danger of hitting a tailspin, but Pannell collected a pass from
Francis Okwuosah and laced a three-ball with 47 seconds to go snapping Woods out of its funk.
With a 36-22 lead at the half, WWU held off an early charge by CBC in the second and extended its lead as far as 19 in the second half.
As the overwhelmingly pro-WWU crowd in Anderson Arena grew more confident in the likelihood that Woods was en route to an upset, the volume continued to rise, rivaling the output of Arrowhead Stadium during a Chiefs playoff game. And despite the obstacles to communication between the coaches on the sideline and the players on the court, the Owls fed off the atmosphere and celebrated a somewhat unexpected win at the final buzzer.
Schwartze was perfect on the scoresheet on the night, hitting 7-of-7 field goals (2-2 3FG) and 2-2 from the free throw line.
Next up for the Owls is the regular season finale on Saturday. Prior to the game, we will recognize three seniors playing their final regular season contest inside Anderson Arena.
