Former Tigers excel at William Woods

FULTON, Mo. — The city of Fulton, Missouri may be three hours away from Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, but the two towns share an unusual bond when it comes to collegiate hoops.

  Buy Photo

Fulton is home to William Woods University, and the William Woods Owls, which plays its athletics not only in the NAIA, but in the American Midwest Conference. The same American Midwest Conference that Iowa Wesleyan University was meant to join for the 2023-24 athletic year.

Iowa Wesleyan’s closure axed the Tiger athletic program and sent shock waves through Southeast Iowa, but through a series of dominoes, the spirit of Tiger men’s basketball is still alive and well.

When Iowa Wesleyan closed in 2023, the men’s basketball program was booming under new head coach and Mt. Pleasant high school stand out Jordan Ashton, who had just taken the Tigers to the NAIA tournament that winter. The potential was high, but due to its closure, Iowa Wesleyan couldn’t build on the promise of even brighter days ahead.

Many of those former Iowa Wesleyan players and recruits, however, did get to take that next step together after all, just three hours south, in Fulton.

The 2024-25 William Woods men’s basketball team wrapped up a historic season last weekend after getting ousted in the Round of 32 at the NAIA tournament. The Owls, which boast many familiar faces from Southeast Iowa, had the greatest season in school history.

  Buy Photo

The current roster for William Woods includes two major standouts from the 2022-23 Iowa Wesleyan team. The two leading scorers for William Woods are Francs Okwuosah and Henry Shannon III, a couple of players who played a major role in bringing Iowa Wesleyan back to the NAIA tournament just two years ago.

The Owls also roster former Mt. Pleasant standout Aaiden Ashton, who signed with William Woods to get coached by his brother, Jordan. Also on the roster is former Burlington standout and Iowa Weslean player Mike Alexander, as well as former Mt. Pleasant standout Payton Hagans, a redshirt freshman.

And, of course, the team is led by Coach Jordan Ashton, who is now a two-time national tournament qualifier, once as the head man at Iowa Wesleyan, and once as the head man at William Woods.

“It was special, those guys going to Woods,” said Ashton, who is in his second season as head coach of the Owls. “That was a main priority, was to bring as many guys from Wesleyan as possible.”

William Woods didn’t quite reach expectations in Year 1 of the Ashton regime, falling in the AMC semifinals and missing out on the postseason, but this winter something really clicked. The Owls went 29-3, the best mark in the history of the college.

“Obviously, our season did end a little prematurely, but we can’t hang our heads on 29-3,” Ashton said. “We won 24 consecutive games, which was pretty special.”

  Buy Photo

After a historic regular season, William Woods entered the AMC tournament as the top seed, making quick work of Harris Stowe State University and Missouri Baptist in the first two rounds, before clashing with Central Baptist in a Top-15 showdown.

The ninth-ranked Owls blasted the 15th-ranked Mustangs in a battle of the Top-2 teams in the AMC. William Woods won its first ever AMC tournament championship 85-52, getting 38 combined points out of Shannon and Okwuosah in the process.

“There were some good teams in the AMC for sure,” Ashton said. “we had tournament-like games even before we got to the tournament.”

When William Woods finally arrived at their NAIA tournament site in West Palm Beach, Fla., the Owls flexed their muscles once more, boat racing Dillard University 110-62 to earn the first-ever national tournament win in school history.

William Woods then battled seventh-seeded and 19th-ranked Keiser University to the bitter end, but fell just short, falling 78-72 to see their March dreams come to an end.

Ashton and the Owls will no longer be playing in the AMC next year. After over 20 years with the conference, William Woods, along with in-state rival Missouri Baptist, will move to the Heart of America Conference. That gives the team plenty of games up north, as Iowa schools Graceland, William Penn, Grand View, Mount Mercy and Clarke will all be on the schedule.

“We’re very excited,” Ashton said. “For me personally, and some of our Iowa guys, it will be good to get back up there.”

Most of this year’s William Woods roster were upperclassmen, including Okwuosah and Alexander, both seniors, and Shannon, a junior. Coach Ashton, however, is confident in the school’s ability to reload and be a force to be reckoned with again when college basketball season kicks off again next winter.

“Take a serious look at us,” Ashton said. “I think we’re really building something special here.”