ST. LOUIS, Mo. -  In its year chock full of milestones, The W men's basketball can now add playing for the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) championship – with a berth in the NCAA Division III national championships, as well - to the list, after its no-doubt win over Lyon College, 80-58, in the semifinals of the conference tournament. The No. 2-seeded Owls (16-10) will play Saturday (Feb. 28/1 p.m.) versus No. 1-seed (and tourney host) Webster University, after dispatching of the Scots (17-9)..

(Webster advanced by defeating No. 4-seed Spalding University, 70-43, in the other semifinal game).
 
The victory marked the program's first-ever post-season win. Previously, MUW had gone 0-2 in the 2023-24 USCAA national tournament and lost in the first-round of last season's SLIAC tournament, in its only other playoff games in the program's eight years in existence.
 
And it quickly became evident that MUW was a team on a mission and that the main question would not be a matter of "how", but rather "how much."
 
The Scots held the lead in the contest for just 24 seconds, with the Owls perched on top for 38:26 minutes. MUW had a double-digit lead less than five minutes into the contest and breeched a 20-point cushion with just under 12 minutes left in the first half, taking a 43-22 lead into halftime.  MUW maintained a 20-point margin the entire second half, leading by as many as 30 points, 65-35, on a Trent Walker jumper midway through the second half.
 
To no surprise, it was newly-minted SLIAC Player of the Year, sophomore Tray Huguley, who led the assault, with his 27 points and nine rebounds. Huguley shot 13-of-17 from the field, while dishing off four assists and blocking two Scot shots.
 
Fellow sophomore Joe Haze Austin demonstrated why he joined Huguley as an all-SLIAC selection and was tabbed as the league's Defensive Player of the Year. Austin chipped in 19 points and corralled nine rebounds, as well. He also had a game-leading five steals and dished off for five assists.
 
The senior Walker and junior Tyler Shephard also had double figure points, with 13 and 12, respectively. Walker pulled down eight rebounds and passed for four assists. Shephard had four boards and four assists.
 
MUW entered the game as the best field goal shooting team in the nation (52.2%) and upped that by game's end. The Owls shot 57.4%  (31-54) for the game, which now moves them to 52.4% for the year (the SLIAC record is 52.3%).
 
"We felt that our guys came out defensively and more than effectively executed the game plan on that end," The W Head Coach Dean Burrows said. "To be plus-14 on the glass against that team is the difference and shows a level of toughness that we haven't seen, maybe all season long. We emphasized keeping them off the glass and out of the paint. We got on all statistical categories of emphasis except for the assist-to-turnover ratio, which must be better come Saturday. I am beyond proud of our group of ten for the connectivity and heart that they played with all night long, both on and off the floor."