Columbia, Mo. - The Cougar men's basketball team won their second straight game on Thursday night, defeating American Midwest Conference (AMC) opponent William Woods University by a score of 83-55. Columbia, ranked No. 13 in Tuesday's latest release of the NAIA Top 25 Poll, moves to 24-5 overall and 17-4 in league play with the victory. With the win, the Cougars also improve to 16-1 all-time against the Owls.

The Cougars took control of the game early as they used a 17-2 run throughout the first six minutes of play and led 21-9 at the midway point. Neither team had a chance at a run as the Owls outscored Columbia 9-6 over the next seven minutes, but the Cougars used a 10-2 run down the stretch to take a 37-20 lead into the halftime break. The Cougars shot 47 percent in the first half led by Jobe Dillard with nine points.

Dillard scored the first five points as the Cougars used an 11-4 run to extend their lead to 24 with five minutes erased from the second half. Columbia continued to dominate as they led by as many as 30 on their way to the regular season sweep over the Owls.

Columbia shot 48 percent from the field for the game led by Dillard with 20 points. John Meyer and Nic Reynolds also ended the night in double-figures with 11 and 10 points respectively. Meyer pulled down a game-high eight rebounds as the Cougars finished with a 37-19 advantage on the boards.

The Owls finished the night shooting 32 percent from the field. Nate Bitner led William Woods with 17 points.

With his 3 points tonight Tanner Sutton scored his 1,000th career point as a Cougar. The Harrisonville, Mo. native needed three points exactly coming into tonight's contest to break the 1,000th point mark. Tanner moves into 23^rd place overall in Columbia College men's basketball scoring history.

The Cougars will close out the regular season at home vs. conference foe Benedictine University-Springfield on Saturday, February 28^th. Columbia seniors Tanner Sutton, Jeremy Nolen, Eric Clark, and Colt Schneider will be honored prior to tip-off at 4:00 at the Arena of Southwell Complex.