FULTON, Mo. - With Anderson Arena filled to the brim Thursday night, No. 22 William Woods University (16-2, 8-1 American Midwest Conference) got the job done, upsetting No. 17 Central Baptist College (14-4, 9-1) 79-74 in the Owls' first-ever top 25 matchup.
Ahlante Askew scored his most points (13) and 3-pointers (three) as an Owl, and his final bucket, a 3-pointer with 6:05 left, put WWU ahead for good at 64-63.
Also standing out on the night for the Owls were
D'Mari Wiltz with a college career-high/game-high 21 points (8-17 field goals, 2-2 3-pointers and 3-5 free throws) and four assists,
Henry Shannon III with 14 points (4-6 free throws), five rebounds, three assists, two blocks (team-high) and one steal and
Kevin Taylor with a team-high eight boards, three points and one assist.
William Woods got its offense going on the game's opening possession, taking a 3-0 lead on Wiltz's 3-pointer assisted by Shannon. Just under a minute later, the Mustangs tied it at 3 on Savaughn Smith's free throw. There were two more ties over the next five minutes, the last being 9-all on Wiltz's second triple provided by Shannon.Â
Following that, CBC went on an extended 16-2 run that spanned 5:56 to take the contest's largest lead at 25-11 on Devin Foster's three-point play with 9:17 remaining in the first half. WWU narrowed its deficit to as low as six points before halftime. To get there, the Owls went on a 7-2 run, with the final five points coming in back-to-back drives, as
Nate Schwartze landed a 3-pointer assisted by
Francis Okwuosah before Okwuosah pulled down a defensive rebound, and Wiltz got a layup to fall to put it at 35-29 Mustangs 2:21 until the break. From there, CBC outscored WWU 4-3 as the Owls trailed 39-32 through one half.
"We got outworked tonight in the first half," William Woods men's basketball coach
Jordan Ashton said. "CBC did a great job of being the tougher team, playing harder, and outplaying us the first 20 minutes. We have to learn from that and not let it happen again."
Central Baptist's motto on its warmup shirts is "Toughest Team Wins." When the Mustangs beat the Owls 80-76 on Nov. 21 in Conway, Ark., they were the tougher team in the second half, outscoring the Owls 49-43. But on Thursday in Fulton, WWU proved tougher than CBC in the second half - to a greater extent - outscoring the Mustangs 47-35.
However, the Mustangs were off to the races to begin the second half, taking two 13-point leads, the last at 55-42 on Wade Williams' layup with 15:24 left. Then, unsung hero Askew pulled up for a 3-pointer on the Owls' ensuing drive, and two possessions later, he stole it from CBC before getting fouled and hitting two free throws to bring Woods' deficit down to 55-47. Askew wasn't done there, trimming it to a three-point game, 57-54 CBC, cashing in his second 3-pointer with 10:47 to go.
Central Baptist didn't let the Owls go in front just yet, stretching its lead to seven points, then William Woods stormed back in front of its thunderous supporters and took the upper hand for good at 64-63 on Askew's right-wing 3-pointer assisted by Okwuosah with 6:05 left. Askew's basket capped a 10-2 Owls run that lasted 3:34, with the Republic native notching half of the Owls' points then. WWU furthered its lead to as much as nine points twice, the second instance at 77-68 on Schwartze's jumper with 2:12 remaining. After that, the Mustangs narrowed their deficit to three points, 77-74, on Gabe Johnson's 3-pointer with :36 to go. Maybe fittingly, free throws sealed the Owls' first top-25 game, and the man with the game-high in points was the one to do that, as Wiltz converted his second of two free throw attempts to make it 78-74 WWU. If that wasn't already the nail in the coffin,
Tre Titus' free throw make with :11 left increased the Owls' lead to 79-74, and that wound up being the game's final point.
"Very proud of how we responded, though," Ashton said. "We stayed together, turned it around, and found a way to get it done. That's what it's about. We'll continue to work on being better with everything in our control, take it one day at a time, and focus on the next one. We need to be ready to go for Saturday."
William Woods collected 32 rebounds (seven offensive) with eight second-chance points, posted 10 points off 13 forced turnovers and shot 51.7% (30-58) from the field, 56.3% (9-16) from 3-point range and 66.7% (10-15) from the free-throw line. Central Baptist pulled down 37 boards (13 offensive) with 16 second-chance points, tallied 13 points off 11 forced turnovers and converted 42.2% (27-64) from the field, 29.2% (7-24) from deep and 86.7% (13-15) from the charity stripe.Â
The Owls seek to stretch their program-record winning streak to 12 games when they host Williams Baptist University (4-12, 1-9 AMC) at 3 p.m. Saturday. WWU won the first matchup of the season series, 84-66, over the Eagles on Nov. 23 in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas.
