Box Score The Ashland University men's basketball team suffered its first loss of the season on Tuesday (Nov. 20), dropping a tense, non-conference game at Urbana, 71-68.
The home team was clinging to that three-point lead when AU junior forward Will Evans (Lexington, Ky./Christian Academy) misfired on a three-point field goal attempt with one second left in regulation. The win was Urbana's first against Ashland in six tries.
The Blue Knights (2-3) had the lead throughout the second half, but could never put away the Eagles. Ashland (1-1) trailed by seven points with 12:39 remaining in the game. A layup by senior forward Evan Yates (Cincinnati, Ohio/Walnut Hills) brought AU to within a point, 50-49 with 10:46 to go.
A triple by sophomore forward Paul Honigford (Sugarcreek, Ohio/Garaway) knotted the score at 55 with 7:40 to play. The game remained a nip-and-tuck affair the rest of the way with the Blue Knight always doing just enough to maintain a slim lead.
With 1:40 left in the game, AU sophomore guard DaWuan Thomas (Dayton, Ohio/Trotwood-Madison) hit a jumper to get the Eagles to within a point, 69-68. AU senior guard Ronnie Steward (Columbus, Ohio/Akron) missed a three-pointer with 1:10 to play. Urbana kept that one-point margin until Danny Goins put in a layup with 28 seconds left to make the score 71-68.
Ashland led at halftime, 34-32. At one point in the first half the Eagles had an eight-point lead.
Yates posted his second double-double in as many games. He had 18 points, 12 rebounds and two blocked shots. Honigford had 17 points and six rebounds. He was 4-of-6 on three-point attempts. This was the second consecutive strong performance by the sophomore, who was slowed by foot injuries last season. Steward had 10 points.
Urbana guard Armond Battle led all players in the game with 20 points. He also collected eight rebounds. Battle scored 15 points in the second half. Guard Danny Goins had 15 points and five rebounds. He had 11 points in the second half. Urbana got a huge lift off the bench from Ramel Mitchell. He had 18 points. Mitchell connected on 7-of-10 field goal attempts and was 2-for-3 on three-point field goal tries. Mitchell played a big part in the Urbana bench outscoring the AU reserves, 29-11.
The Eagles didn't do themselves any favors at the free throw line. AU went 12-of-22 (55 percent) on charity tosses. Urbana was 16-of-21 (76 percent) at the free throw line. Both teams struggled to generate any consistency from three-point range. AU was 6-of-20 (30 percent) and Urbana was 5-of-17 (29.4 percent).
AU
MBB/ALK
