FULTON, Mo. - Francis Okwuosah again proved to be too much for the Eagles to handle as the junior dropped 20 points for the Owls as William Woods (18-8, 10-4 AMC) smothered Williams Baptist University (13-12, 5-9 AMC) 73-42. For the second time in as many games, WWU never trailed, leading for nearly 38 minutes.
Although Okwuosah scored on the first possession of the game for Woods, it took the Owls a while to settle into their shooting rhythm. Once they did, however, WWU blew the game open with a 13-2 run. Henry Shannon II dropped a jumper with 13:40 on the clock to break an 8-8 tie, with
Joey Brown IV completing an old-school three-point play to give WWU a 21-10 lead.
A jumper by Ben Keton and back-to-back triples by Ashton Young and Jayvon Clark broke the Owls run. Williams Baptist managed to close within three points, trailing 21-18 with 5:39 left in the first.
After seeing its next possession stifled despite three second-chance field goal attempts, Wood returned the favor with a defensive stop and then dropped the hammer on Williams Baptist.
A mid-range jumper by Okwuosah with 4:33 on the clock sparked a 35-4 run by WWU spanning to the 11:12 mark in the second half. The Owls held WBU to just 2-19 shooting over the stretch, forcing seven turnovers.
After taking a 30-18 lead into the break, the Owls expanded to a 56-22 margin, with
Kyle Belgrave II adding an exclamation point to finish the run, throwing down a dunk on a great entry pass from
Ty'Shon Pannell.
The Eagles were only able to close the gap below 30 points twice down the stretch, with a Tate Tevin jumper at 7:01 and Cory Sanders three-pointer at 5:36 bringing WBU within 29 points.
WWU shot 50 percent (16-32) in the second half to finish at a 42.6 percent (29-68) clip overall, holding Williams Baptist to 26.7 percent (16-60) shooting on the night. The Owls dominated the rebounding battle as well, with a 51-33 overall edge and a 17-11 edge on the offensive glass that parlayed into a 20-7 margin in second-chance points.
With other results around the league not falling in WWU's favor, these two teams will square off again to open the 2024 AMC Men's Basketball Tournament presented by Tandem HR, with Woods hosting the quarterfinal contest on Thursday, Feb. 29. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
