Mississippi University for Women’s Pohl Gymnasium was host to a large group of Owls on Saturday as its men’s basketball squad squashed Warren Wilson College, which shares the same nickname as The W, 95-55. It was MUW’s fourth game this season with 90 points or better.
The 40-point win also avenged a 113-86 loss at Warren Wilson two weeks ago. More importantly, The W (10-12) — tied for ninth in the most recent USCAA rankings — keeps alive the team’s hope for its first-ever post-season playoff berth in the 8-team USCAA tournament in March.
And on an afternoon when the MUW program celebrated its seniors, Milos Zeradjanin, Shon Wright and Quintiyus Causey were all instrumental in the win. Each scored in double figures, with Zeradjanin flirting with a triple-double. The Zemun, Serbia, native scored 16 points and dished off for a school single-game record 10 assists, needing just a handful more rebounds after corralling six caroms.
Shon Wright topped the trio with 17 points, six rebounds (all on the defensive glass), four assists and a pair of steals. Wright hit 7 of 12 from the field, including 3 for 5 from beyond the arc.
Causey had a nice stat line of 13 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals. He was 4 of 4 from the free throw line, as MUW went 9 of 10 as a team from the charity stripe.
But it was junior Brye Hopkins who led all scorers with 21 points. Hopkins, who led the entire USCAA in field goal percentage at 69.2 percent coming in, did nothing to hurt that lofty spot by connecting on 9 of 11 shots from the floor against WWC. He also chipped in five rebounds and two steals.
The W led wire to wire against Warren Wilson and dominated most every team stat as well. MUW rolled up 36 points off WWC’s 22 turnovers, had 44 points in the paint, held a 44-34 margin in rebounds and dominated the bench scoring (42-17).
The W will next play at home versus Belhaven University at 7 p.m. Tuesday. MUW will have a chance to match the program’s season record for wins (11 in 2019-20) when it takes on the Blazers.
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