FULTON, Mo. - Another tremendous performance from No. 9 William Woods University (23-2, 15-1 American Midwest Conference) on both sides resulted in an 82-47 victory over Crowley's Ridge College (15-12, 9-8), extending its program-record winning streak to 18 games Saturday at Anderson Arena.
"We were solid for some stretches of the game today and not very good for other parts," William Woods men's basketball coach
Jordan Ashton said. "We will continue to work on it. Tough one coming up on Thursday. We need to lock into doing what we need to do and keep getting better."
Four Owls reached double figures in points, three more than the Pioneers, with
Henry Shannon III's game-high 18 points on a perfect 8-8 field goals and 2-2 free throws leading the way - he also had four rebounds and a game-high two blocks. Supporting the offense,
D'Mari Wiltz dished out a game-high nine assists, while WWU had 22 as a team. Last but not least,
Francis Okwuosah played the Owls' most complete game, tallying 13 points (5-8 field goals, 2-2 free throws and one 3-pointer), seven boards, one block and one steal.
William Woods was in its groove from the tip, posting nine unanswered points with a Shannon slam from a Wiltz assist ending the run. Soon after,
Nate Schwartze gave the Owls their first double-digit lead, knocking down the first of his co-game-high 4-5 from deep off a Wiltz assist to make it 12-2 Owls 4:24 into the contest.
Kevin Taylor, who tied Schwartze with a game-high 4-5 3-pointers, handed WWU its third 10-point lead (20-10) on his first triple with 8:41 left in the first half.
While Crowley's Ridge did keep its deficit manageable for most of the first half, the Owls ended the half strong, using a 9-2 run to hold a 39-24 advantage at halftime. A
Jacob LaBounty layup at 3:22 on the clock started the stretch, and Schwartze wrapped it up by finishing off his 2-3 half from deep, sinking his attempt with eight seconds left.
After posting 10 points in the first half, Shannon notched eight of William Woods' first 12 points in the second half to finish off his game-high tally and give the Owls a 51-31 lead with 15:07 remaining. That wasn't WWU's only solid stretch of offense in the second half, using a 10-2 run to elevate its advantage to 74-43 with 4:20 to go. During that run, Taylor drained the final half of his four 3s - and his second 3-pointer came soon before it started.
Cooper Smith and others on the Owls bench joined in on the fun, registering eight of their impressive 30 bench points in the final 3:25. Smith had five points in four minutes, with his 3-pointer bringing The Woods in front by its widest margin at 82-45 with 23 seconds left. Nine seconds later, the Pioneers hit a layup to cap the scoring as the Owls won by 35 points.
William Woods collected 37 boards (nine offensive) with 10 second-chance points, scored 24 points off 13 forced turnovers and shot 57.7% (30-52) from the field, 46.2% (12-26) from 3-point range and 83.3% (10-12) from the free-throw line. Crowley's Ridge recorded 22 rebounds (seven offensive) with four second-chance points, tallied 14 points off 16 forced turnovers and converted 38.2% (21-55) from the field, 20% (2-10) from deep and 60% (3-5) from the stripe.
The Owls are back at the barn for their final home game of the regular season, facing Missouri Baptist University (12-14, 9-7 AMC) on Senior Night at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Winning by its widest margin ever in Creve Couer, William Woods took this season's first matchup against the Spartans, 82-60, on Jan. 16.
