FULTON, Mo. - After shattering its single-season program-best winning record Saturday, No. 9 William Woods University (24-2, 16-1 American Midwest Conference) kept up its winning ways in front of a loud, supportive and jam-packed Senior Night crowd, beating Missouri Baptist University (12-15, 9-8) 81-67 for its 19th straight victory Thursday at Anderson Arena.

Before continuing their historic run on the court, the Owls honored their nine seniors: Mike Alexander, Adam Barbieri, Francis Okwuosah, Ty'Shon Pannell, Nate Schwartze, Henry Shannon III, Kevin Taylor, Tre Titus, Jack Wetzel, and D'Mari Wiltz.

"Our seniors are our leaders," William Woods men's basketball coach Jordan Ashton said. "All high character, unselfish, talented, work hard and they've all bought into our culture, standards and what we're about. We hope to keep going with those guys leading the way."

Firing up and deafening the barn on their senior nights, the Owls' Okwuosah posted 19 points (6-9 field goals, 5-6 3-pointers and 2-2 free throws), eight rebounds, one assist and one steal, Shannon 18 points (7-12 field goals), nine boards, four blocks, two assists and one steal and Taylor 16 points, 13 rebounds - seventh double-double this season - two assists and two steals.

William Woods and Missouri Baptist exchanged baskets over the first 5:22, with it tied at 7. After the Spartans took the lead, the Owls knotted it at 11 on a senior-to-senior connection: Schwartze landed a 3-pointer provided by Okwuosah. There were three more ties before WWU eventually went ahead by seven points (24-17), thanks to tallying that many unanswered. Wiltz and Taylor answered the bell during that run, with the former recording a three-point play, a steal and an assist and the latter a layup from Wiltz's pass and a spin-around-the-rim crowd-pleasing dunk. 

Taylor's rim-rattler forced a Missouri Baptist timeout with 8:20 before halftime. Although Taylor made two free throws to give the Owls another seven-point advantage (26-19), the Spartans ended the half strong with a 12-7 run to narrow WWU's lead to 33-31.

The Owls began the second half as they wanted, going on a 7-2 run to go up 40-33. Shannon scored the final five points of the stretch, starting with a three-point play and ending with a layup. Unfortunately for WWU, MBU notched eight points without a reply to send it ahead 41-40 with 16:14 remaining. Just over two minutes later, the Owls took the lead for good on Shannon's layup, putting it at 45-43 Woods.

William Woods and its senior leaders didn't stop there. With a run of that many unanswered points, the Owls elevated their advantage to 11 points (58-47). Taylor opened and capped the run, sinking two free throws to begin it and knocking down a 3 to end it. 

Fast forward to the final stages of the second half, and Okwuosah swished in the final three of his five 3-pointers - his second soon before it happened - in a personal 9-2 run. After the last trifecta from Okwuosah, WWU held an 81-65 lead with 2:31 to go. For whatever reason, both teams went in a funk the rest of the matchup as a Spartans jumper with 2:01 left concluded the scoring as the Owls prevailed by 14 points.

William Woods brought down 41 rebounds (13 offensive) with 13 second-chance points, notched nine points off 13 forced turnovers and shot 45.3% (29-64) from the field, 32.1% (9-28) from 3-point range and 82.4% (14-17) at the stripe; the Owls also tied their season-high in blocks with seven.

Meanwhile, Missouri Baptist had 29 boards (five offensive) with two second-chance points, tallied 10 points off 12 forced turnovers and converted 45.6% (25-55) from the field, 26.7% (4-15) from deep and 81.3% (13-16) at the line.

"That was a grinder for us tonight," Ashton said. "Credit to MBU for outworking us for a lot of the game. They came in and played hard. We have to be better going forward and have another great opportunity on Saturday. Last game of the regular season. We need to be ready to go."

The Owls will wrap up their regular season by taking on Mission University (8-16, 6-11 AMC) at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at W.E. Dowell Fieldhouse in Springfield. WWU beat the Patriots 99-58 on Jan. 18 in Fulton in their first matchup this season.  Read Full Article