Headed To the Championship! CBC Takes Down William Woods in Overtime!

Erik Holth, CBC Sports Information Director

            Conway, Ark. – Coming off a blowout win in the quarterfinal round, Central Baptist College men's basketball hosted the semifinals of the American Midwest Conference Tournament presented by Tandem HR against the Owls of William Woods University. CBC (24-6) needed overtime, but they took down WWU (12-16) to advance to their fifth AMC Tournament Championship game in the last six years.

            Wade Williams led all scorers with 22 off the bench while Sage Borbon added 20, Jonas Carlisle had 15 and Kyle Harding added 12. CBC knocked down twice as many threes as WWU and outrebounded the Owls 37-34.

GAME FLOW

            The Owls scored the first eight points of the basketball game and CBC had a dogfight on their hands. The Mustangs cut the deficit to five twice, including at halftime, where they trailed 33-28. The Mustangs opened the second half on a 5-0 run to tie the score at 33 but the Owls pushed back, going on their own 5-0 run to push the deficit back to five for CBC. The deficit ballooned all the way to 12, 62-50, with 3:33 left to play before CBC began a comeback. A Borbon free throw made it 62-51 and he followed that up with a three following an offensive rebound to make it 62-54. Another three, this time by Jonas Carlisle, cut the deficit to five with 2:29 left and forced the Owls to use their final timeout. Out of the timeout, WWU scored their final bucket of regulation, making the Mustangs' deficit 64-57. The scrappy Mustangs never quit, and Borbon made two more free throws to make it 64-59 with 1:40 to play. Another set of Borbon free throws with 1:08 left cut the deficit to 64-61, and, following a missed WWU free throw, Carlisle would knock down a three with 25 seconds remaining to tie the score at 64. The Owls got a look at a three with three seconds left, but missed and the game went into overtime.

            In the overtime, Williams opened the scoring with a three to give CBC their first lead of the game, but the Owls cut the lead to one with a layup, making it 67-66 with 3:44 left. Following a basket by CBC and a pair of free throws by WWU, plus another made free throw by the Mustangs, WWU would tie the score at 70 with 1:50 left following a layup. A Williams step-back three with 1:24 left put the dagger into William Woods as CBC would get three straight run out baskets to survive and advance.

UP NEXT

            CBC will play host to the AMC Championship Game for the fourth time in program history as they welcome Missouri Baptist into Reddin Fieldhouse. Tipoff is at 7 p.m.