Box Score The calendar shows that the Ides of March is a lot closer than Christmas. Nevertheless, the Ashland University men's basketball team believed now was a perfect time to award the Tiffin Dragons a lump of Cole.
Sophomore guard Cole Krizancic (Mentor, Ohio) scored AU's first eight points on Saturday (Feb. 23) at Tiffin as the surging Eagles defeated the Dragons, 80-72. Krizancic scored 10 of his 13 points in the first half. That onslaught helped the Eagles take a 35-24 halftime lead.
The win allows the Eagles to climb to the .500 mark overall. The Eagles are 12-12 and this is the first time their ledger has been even since Dec. 1 when a 71-49 victory over Ferris State gave them a 2-2 record.
Ashland is 10-11 in GLIAC play with one regular season game remaining. The Eagles are in the thick of the battle for the final playoff spot in the eight-team GLIAC Tournament. Ashland's final regular season game will be played at Lake Erie next Saturday (Mar. 2, 1 p.m.).
This was AU's second road win of the season. It was Ashland's seventh win in its last eight games and its third consecutive triumph. This was the fourth time in the last seven games the Eagles reached the 80-point plateau. The Eagles started this week producing 66.7 ppg.
Against the Dragons, the Eagles got scoring from every position on the floor. Krizancic may have been the player to get things started, but his teammates quickly fell in line. Junior forward Will Evans (Lexington, Ohio/Christian Academy) had a team-high 18 points. Sophomore guard Brook Turson (Plymouth, Ohio/Columbus State) scored 14 points and senior forward Evan Yates (Cincinnati, Ohio/Walnut Hills) had 11 points.
The bench played a key role in this win, too. Senior guard David Harris (Cincinnati, Ohio/Florida) scored nine points and sophomore forward Paul Honigford (Sugarcreek, Ohio/Garaway) had five points.
Once the Eagles had that 11-point lead, the Dragons were in trouble. Tiffin could get to within five points with 3:01 left in regulation, but the way Ashland was shooting, a comeback was going to be a difficult task. AU shot 65 percent from the floor in the second half. For the game, AU was 9-of-19 (47.4 percent) from three-point range. Overall from the floor, the Eagles clicked on 58.1 percent (25-of-43) of their attempts. At the free throw line, AU was good on 72.4 percent (21-of-29) of its shots.
Krizancic helped those percentages. He was 4-of-5 from the floor, 3-of-4 on three-pointers and 2-of-2 on the free throw line. Over the second half of the season, his offensive game has grown. Once, Krizancic was little more than an outside jump shooter. He's added the threat of the drive and that's made defenses think twice about how to defend him. The sophomore has also improved his passing skills.
Most of Tiffin's offense centered around guard Joe Graessle. He had 33 points. Graessle is second in the GLIAC in scoring, averaging just over 24 points per game. While Graessle got his points, the Eagles took away just about everyone else. The only other Tiffin player to score in double digits was Khaleal McCormick, who had 14 points.
AU/MBB/ALK
