JOLIET, Ill. --- Less than 24 hours after producing its best shooting percentages of the season, the University of St. Francis men's basketball team had to battle through one of its toughest accuracy games to pull off its perfect week with another tight 63-61 victory over William Woods University (Mo.) to close out the USF Thanksgiving Classic late Sunday afternoon.

The win was the fifth straight for the Saints and the third in a span of just five days for head coach Ryan Marks' club, which is now 6-1 on the season. William Woods fell to 4-7 on the campaign.

Neither team could build much of an advantage throughout the course of the contest with the Saints' biggest lead of five points coming three separate times in the closing eight minutes. William Woods' biggest advantage of seven points came with just under two minutes remaining in the first half. USF would eventually cut that deficit down to two points, 30-28, at the break.

By day's end, a total of eight ties and six lead changes resulted. A seven-point swing midway through the second half would net the positive result for the Saints by the time the final buzzer sounded. Trailing 47-45 with 10:56 to play, Darius Wright took control of the game with three straight baskets followed by Nadav Gerner's three pointer with 7:23 remaining to give St. Francis a 54-49 lead.

USF then used seven straight free throws down the stretch to maintain the lead despite both teams having numerous chances in the closing 1:38 to either extend or take the lead. Only one point resulted to account for the final scoring with William Woods turning the ball over twice and missing a free throw and the Saints going 0-for-2 both from the field and at the free throw line with one turnover in the closing 98 seconds.

USF's bench again played a dominant role in the come-from-behind victory led by Wright's 11 points. As a team, St. Francis' bench outscored that of William Woods 23-9.
The Saints also overcame their .311 shooting mark (19-of-61) and ten blocked shots by countering William Woods' .510 accuracy reading (25-of-49) with ten treys (to the Owls' three) and turning the ball over just four times in 40 minutes.  

Carlos Tovias accounted for four of the ten treys leading to his 14 points. EJ Charles led the Saints in scoring with 15 points with eight coming at the free throw line in 10 attempts. As a team, USF was 15-of-19 at the line (,789), while William Woods made just over half of its attempts (8-of-14, .571).

Lewis Holey provided a game-high 12 rebounds for the Saints.

William Woods was led by Makenzie Fessler's 20 points with Darius Yohe recording a double-double (10 points, 10 rebounds).

Up Next
The Saints get back to conference play on Wednesday night when they meet up with Indiana University Northwest in Gary, Ind. for a 7:30 pm tip off.

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