Junior guard Deon Pettigrew scored the go-ahead basket with 28 seconds to play as the William Woods University Owls stopped a two-game losing streak with Thursday night's 71-67 AMC win over Williams Baptist (Ark.) College at Anderson Arena.
William Woods went into halftime with a 35-30 edge, but Williams Baptist crafted a 7-2 run with less than 10 minutes left to take a five-point lead. Marquez Chew's basket in the lane put the Eagles in front 61-56 with 5:21 remaining.
The Owls regained the lead at 65-64 on a Pettigrew 3-pointer at the 2:33 mark and junior forward Keith Jackson followed with a basket to make it a three-point advantage. Williams Baptist, though, pulled even at 67-all on Braxton Gillespie's 3-pointer with 1:20 to go.
The game remained tied until Pettigrew gave William Woods the lead for good with his basket in the paint. Senior guard Kevin House then sealed the win by knocking down a pair of free throws with :10 left.
Pettigrew tallied a double-double with game-highs of 19 points and 12 rebounds to direct the Owls (11-6, 7-2 AMC), who overcame 19 turnovers. Jackson and House added 14 points apiece as William Woods shot 46 percent (29-of-63) as a team.
Jackson - whose scoring output was a season high - also grabbed 10 rebounds to help power the Owls to a commanding 55-34 advantage on the boards.
Stanley Malcom and Demoine Brown scored 13 points apiece for Williams Baptist (5-5, 3-4), which was coming off an upset of third-ranked Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) University earlier in the week.
Reece Dunlap was 4-of-7 from 3-point range in tallying 12 points for the Eagles on Thursday night and Tevin Howard contributed 10. Williams Baptist shot just 32 percent (24-of-75) from the field.
William Woods hosted Freed-Hardeman late Saturday afternoon. Results were not available at press time.