Owls hold off Missouri Valley for third straight win

William Woods University junior guard Deon Pettigrew and senior guard Austin Lowery combined for 49 points to fuel the Owls' third straight win in Tuesday night's 85-79 non-conference triumph over the Missouri Valley College Vikings at Anderson Arena.

Pettigrew made 10-of-15 shots - including 4-of-5 attempts from 3-point range - to direct William Woods University (4-3) with a season-high 27 points. Lowery was 7-of-16 from the field, going 4-of-9 from behind the arc, to supply 22 points.

"They both shot the ball pretty well," Owls head coach Nick Totta said. "Austin's one of those guys that's been in the program, stuck with it and continued to work at it, which is paying off. He has a really high basketball IQ and is more athletic than he looks, as he had a great tip-in shot.

"Deon is working harder, shot it down from three ... and his effort was better overall. When you talk to him about something, he's going to go apply it and I thought he did that."

William Woods - which led 40-34 at halftime - shot 44 percent (30-of-68) as a team, including 45 percent (14-of-31) from 3-point range. The Owls' reserves outscored Missouri Valley College's bench 34-19.

Junior forward Bryan DeGeare collected a team-high eight rebounds as William Woods was edged on the boards 41-40.

"I'm proud that we were able to pull it out," Totta said. "Teams that are going to be good still need to mesh together if they are going to find ways to get a win, and we did that.

"I think we've got to make some better decisions down the stretch, but early in the year it's hard to practice through situations sometimes."

Raviel Burton answered with 26 points to lead three players in double figures for the Vikings (1-4), who shot 45 percent (28-of-62) as team and 59 percent (10-of-17) from behind the arc. Brody Gronewold added 17 points and Laquin Turner had 10.

The Owls play an exhibition game at NCAA Division I Missouri State University at 2:05 p.m. today. The game will be shown on ESPN3.