FULTON, Mo. - One of the oft-heard cliches in sports is that it's tough to beat a team three times in the same season, but William Woods (12-15) proved that it's more fairy tale than cautionary tale on Thursday night, holding off a late Williams Baptist (13-13) comeback with a 68-58 win.
Francis Okwuosah again shouldered much of the load for the Owls, scoring 18 points for Woods and grabbing nine rebounds.
With just five days elapsed since the last meeting between these teams, emotions were high on both sides to start the quarterfinal battle. Both teams missed on their opening possessions, but after drawing an offensive foul charged to
Nate Schwartze in a rebounding battle on one end of the court, Duke Hardin embellished the contact on the opposite end after missing a short-range jumper and was whistled for a technical foul.
Schwartze knocked down the free throw then dished a pass to Okwuosah for a 3-0 Woods lead. The Eagles battled back and briefly pulled in front 5-3, but the lead lasted all of 26 seconds, as
Lavel Harris made up for a pair of missed free throws with a pick and dish to
Gacoby Jones Jr., to pull WWU level with 17:33 on the clock.
The Owls turned up the defensive pressure throughout the half, holding Williams Baptist to 7-27 shooting in the opening 20:00. Woods pulled away, leading by as many as 17 points and taking a 39-24 lead into the locker room.
Unlike the teams' previous meeting, however, Williams Baptist didn't fold under the withering pressure. As Woods pushed out to a 43-26 lead at the 17:36 mark, the Eagles found a big response, reeling off a 10-2 run over the next five minutes to close within single digits.
A big triple by
Joey Brown IV with 13:13 left settled WWU back into its rhythm, as the Owls held WBU at arms length.
The Eagles had one final spurt, trimming the margin to 61-54 with 2:13 left to play, but the Owls answered to push the lead back to double digits as a layup from Schwartze followed one of two free throw makes by Okwuosah to give Woods a 64-54 lead heading into the final minute.
Jones Jr., emphatically punctuated the win for Woods with 15 seconds left, breaking open down court as WBU tried a high press defense. Brown darted to his left on the baseline then threw an overhand pass to hit Jones in stride for a windmill dunk.
Woods dominated the rebounding battle in the game, finishing with 37 to just 24 for WBU, and racked up a 42-26 advantage in the paint.
The Owls advance to the semifinals of the AMC Men's Basketball Tournament presented by Tandem HR, facing no. 1 seed Central Baptist College on Saturday. Tipoff for the game is set for 3 p.m.
