William Woods men win 64-50 game at Hannibal-LaGrange on the line

Free throws have been an area the William Woods men have thrived this season at 74.6 percent.

Thursday at Hannibal-LaGrange was their best performance yet as the Owls hit 21-of-23, including 16-of-17 in the second half, for a 91.3 percentage and a 64-50 win.

The Trojans (4-15, 2-6 AMC) fouled William Woods (12-9, 6-1 AMC) 18 times, with 13 of those happening in the second half.

The Owls knocked down seven 3-pointers, led by leading scorer Mike Robinson’s four for 14 points. Nathan Schwartze stepped up again in the second half, scoring 12 points, going 9-for-10 at the free-throw line. Jared Crutcher was the third Owl to score in double figures, scoring 13 points and pulling down seven rebounds while finishing a perfect 5-for-5 at the line.

William Woods just stayed ahead of the Trojans early in the first half thanks to 3-pointers from Spencer Yoggerst and Robinson, but Hannibal-LaGrange took a 17-16 lead into the ninth minute.

The Owls had a 29-22 lead with two minutes left after a 7-0 run by Crutcher and then a 32-25 halftime lead after a 3-pointer by Andrew Nett, who had a dunk earlier in the half.

The free shots for William Woods started occurring early in the second half. Seconds after Yoggerst beat the Trojans to the rim for a layup, he got to the rim again only be fouled this time.

He gave William Woods a 36-29 lead with around 18 minutes to go, but the lead didn’t stay intact as Hannibal-LaGrange’s Landon Hall knocked down a 3-pointer to make it 37-36 about two minutes later.

Darius Yohe shined on the glass in the second half, recording nine of his 13 rebounds, and he made the Owls’ lead grow to 53-44 with 2:38 left after knocking down both of his free throws.

The Owls didn’t miss at the line from that point on as they drained their final 11 free throws, with Schwartze hitting all nine of his in that span.

William Woods is set to play at conference-leader Missouri Baptist (15-4, 7-0 AMC), who are on a seven-game winning streak and haven’t lost in the American Midwest Conference, at 3 p.m. Saturday.