In order to stop a prop on most light singles you have to put the mixture to ICO to kill the engine, then slow the aeroplane down almost to the stall to stop the prop windmilling. Then you'd have to recover a safe airspeed (losing a bit more height) and mess about with the starter to put the prop to horizontal while you're in a steeper glide than you've ever practised for with the prospect of what might be the landing from hell at the end of it. Sounds like a recipe for an undershoot.
If the aeroplane's insured, you know you're going to damage it anyway, would you take that risk at low level, plus pretty much remove any option to go around? (bit late to try and restart the engine when you realised you've made a hash of it.)
btw: On a complex (which I guess this would have been), can you stop a prop more easily by pulling the mixture and the prop lever at the same time, ie forcing the prop coarse (low rpm) as the power drops off? Or would the spring pull it back to fine as the oil pressure in the hub falls, leading to a windmill just like a fixed pitch?