ST. LOUIS - [Box Score] The Spartans made a furious run late in the contest, but William Woods came out with the 80-76 victory over the Missouri Baptist men's basketball team.
Missouri Baptist (3-14, 2-8 AMC) was once again the victim of hot shooting by the opposing team. The Owls made 24-of-47 (.511) from the field and sank 31-of-52 from the free throw line.
The Spartans hit on .385 from the floor, connecting on 20-of-52 shots. MBU added 33-of-42 from the free throw line, a season-high in both stats. The Spartans added 33 rebounds, but were out-boarded with the Owls 38 rebounds. MBU won the turnover battle, 15-12.
Junior Cody Hudson led the Spartans with 16 points. He made4-of-7 from the field, 2-of-4 from three point territory, and 6-of-8 from the charity stripe. Hudson added one rebound, and two steals in 20 minutes of play.
Junior Stephen Buckner II scored 15 points on 4-of-9 from the field. He added 7-of-9 from the charity stripe, pulled down three rebounds, and had three assists.
Senior Adrian Kuyinu scored 14 points on just 2-of-5 from the field. He tied a season-high 10-of-14 from the free throw line, pulled down three boards, and swiped three steals.
Sophomore Chris Buzzell led MBU with six rebounds. He pulled down a season-high four offensive rebounds, and also scored 11 points.
Over the first 8 minutes of the contest, neither team could take a two possession lead. The Owls scooped in a layup with 11:42 to take a 10-5 lead, but the Spartans used a 10-5 run over the next two minutes to tie the score at 15-15.
Josh Davis hit two free throws with 2:53 left in the half to give the Spartans its largest lead of the contest at 26-24. The two teams played the remainder of the half separated by just one point. The Owls drained a buzzer-beater three pointer to take a 30-29 lead at the break.
Adrian Kuyinu and Cody Hudson led the Spartans with seven points at the break while Bryce Weibrecht pulled down four rebounds. The Spartans shot .304 on 7-of-23 from the field and connected on an impressive 14-of-17 from the free throw line. The Owls made 10-of-23 from the field and just 9-of-15 from the free throw line.
William Woods used a 10-4 run over the first 6:43 of the second half to take a 40-33 lead, but the Spartans used a run of its own to cut the Owl lead to 41-40.
Another big run separated the two teams once again. The Owls exploded for a 12-2 run and led 53-42 with 8:05 left in the game.
The lead expanded to 14 points (66-52) for the Owls with 4:09 left, but the Spartans had no plans of giving in. Missouri Baptist began to click with 2:29 left in the game. The Spartans trailed 73-61, but used a furious 10-1 run over the next 36 seconds to cut the deficit to 74-71. Buckner scored six points during the run.
William Woods cushioned the lead to two possessions with 40 seconds left, but Cody Hudson splashed a fade-away three pointer just eight seconds later to cut the WWU lead to 79-76 with 32 second left. Both teams followed with back-to-back timeouts, but the Spartans could not rally again. The Owls played keep-away for the remainder of the contest and ended the contest with an 80-76 victory.
Missouri Baptist will host Benedictine-Springfield on Thursday. Tipoff is set for 7:30 pm.
