Box Score Death, taxes and change are three constants in life. There are days when all three combine in a perfect storm. That seemed to be the case on Saturday (Jan. 26) at Kates Gymnasium.
Saturday's Tiffin-Ashland men's basketball game at Kates Gymnasium was far from a life or death situation. Still, the Eagles were faced with a taxing scenario coming off a loss at Ohio Dominican on Thursday. So, in an attempt to change their luck, the Eagles shuffled the starting lineup.
Seniors Evan Yates (Cincinnati, Ohio/Walnut Hills) and Ronnie Steward (Columbus, Ohio/Akron), two staples in the starting lineup all season, began the game on the bench. Yates would come off the bench to score 14 points and collect nine rebounds and the Eagles held off Tiffin, 67-64.
The win gives the Eagles a 6-11 record, 4-10 in league play. Tiffin is 7-13 and 4-10. This was the first of two meetings this season between these two teams. The GLIAC South Division entrants will meet in Tiffin on Feb. 23.
Here's another welcome change for the Eagles. After shooting no better than 59 percent at the free throw line for a stretch of three consecutive games (Malone-Findlay-Hillsdale), the Eagles seem to have regained their confidence at the line. Thursday at ODU, Ashland went 24-of-30 (80 percent) on free throw attempts. In this game, AU went 24-of-28 (85.7 percent). The Eagles were 12-of-13 (92.3) in the second half when they managed to keep the Dragons just a step behind them.
Ashland's leading scorer was sophomore guard Cole Krizancic (Mentor, Ohio). AU's long distance specialist is normally one of the first players off the bench. This was his first career start and he went 5-for-12 from the floor, 5-of-10 on three-pointers.
Junior forward Will Evans (Lexington, Ky./Christian Academy) contributed 12 points and redshirt sophomore guard DaWuan Thomas (Dayton, Ohio/Trotwood Madison) had 10 points. The biggest contribution Thomas made came on defense where he shadowed Tiffin scoring machine Joe Graessle (23.7 ppg.). The Tiffin guard is second in the GLIAC in scoring. Even though he finished with 21 points, Thomas made life miserable for him. Graessle was 6-of-20 from the floor, 3-of-10 from three-point range.
The teams were tied, 34-34 at the intermission. The Eagles took the lead for good with 10:07 remaining in regulation on a jumper in the lane by senior forward Chris Meyer (Kenston, Ohio/Hiram). After that, AU never led by more than six points, but the Dragons couldn't find a way to get over the top.
With 23 seconds left, sophomore guard Brook Turson (Plymouth, Ohio/Columbus State) dropped in a pair of free throws for a 65-61 advantage. A Graessle three-pointer with three seconds to go cut the Ashland lead to 65-64. Turson nailed two more free throws with a second left to provide the final margin of victory. Turson went 8-for-8 at the free throw line. He was 6-for-6 in the second half.
The win gives the Eagles a 6-3 record at home this year and that's good news because this was the first of four consecutive road games for AU. Ashland will play again next Saturday (Feb. 2, 1 p.m.) when it hosts Lake Erie.
AU
MBB/ALK
