Box Score Four years ago, there were some Ashland University basketball fans that likened forward Evan Yates (Cincinnati, Ohio/Walnut Hills) to a bull in a china shop.
Thursday night (Feb. 7), Yates, now a 6-6, 245-pound senior forward, re-enacted the running of the bulls, scattering the Walsh Cavaliers all over the Kates Gymnasium floor on the way to a career-high 32 points and 12 rebounds. Yates was the ringleader as AU won its season-high third consecutive game, 88-78 over the Cavaliers.
Ashland is 8-11, 6-10 in GLIAC play. Walsh fell to 13-6 and 9-6. The win gives AU a split in the season series. On Jan. 10 at Walsh, the Cavaliers won, 74-66.
Yates had 26 points in that first meeting. In this return engagement he made 10-of-17 shots from the floor and 12-of-14 at the free throw line. He had 16 points in both halves.
The Eagles helped themselves greatly at the free throw line where they were 29-of-35 (82.9 percent). Both of those numbers are season highs. In the second half, the Eagles were 24-of-28 (85.7 percent) at the charity stripe. Yates was 8-for-10 in the second half.
The Eagles had six turnovers, none in the second half. That's extremely impressive because the second half was a run-and-gun affair that saw the Eagles outscore the Cavs, 52-51. That's the most points the Eagles have scored in a half this season.
"I'm happy for our guys," said AU head coach John Ellenwood. "It's one game at a time right now. We'll reflect on Walsh after the season."
This would qualify as one of the AU's most impressive victories of the season. It comes as the Eagles are making a late push for the GLIAC playoffs. AU is 8-3 at home.
"We have a lot of confidence in this gym," reminded Ellenwood. "We need to develop that on the road and give ourselves a fighting chance to get in the GLIAC Tournament."
The Cavaliers came to town as the conference's leader in scoring and rebound margin (+7). AU got outrebounded in this game, 35-30, but the edge in second chance points was only 11-6, Walsh. Kenny Kornowski, a 6-9 forward who is fourth in the conference in scoring and second in rebounding (9.3 rpg.), had 21 points and eight rebounds. He had five rebounds off the offensive glass.
"He's a great player," said Ellenwood of Kornowski. "Our main focus was not to let him get easy looks as the basket."
On that count, AU did pretty well – Kornowski put up 22 shots and made 10. In the second half, Kornowski had only one rebound.
The Cavaliers collected 15 offensive rebounds, 10 in the first half. After the break, AU did a much better job inside.
"That's what they do well and we've got to fight," said Ellenwood. "But total points is all that matters to me right now."
Ashland led at halftime, 37-26. The Eagles built that lead up to a game-high 14 points with 14:50 remaining. Walsh stormed back and with 9:33 to go, had cut the AU lead to 55-54. AU went on an 8-0 run to build a 63-54 lead with 6:57 remaining. Sophomore guard Cole Krizancic (Mentor, Ohio) started that run with a three-pointer. The other five points in that stretch were provided by Yates.
In the final five minutes, the Cavaliers could go no closer than eight points.
Junior forward Will Evans (Lexington, Ky./Christian Academy) and sophomore guard Brook Turson (Plymouth, Ohio/Columbus State) scored 12 points each and redshirt sophomore guard DaWuan Thomas (Dayton, Ohio/Trotwood-Madison) scored 11 points. Evans and Thomas had six rebounds apiece.
Guard Ryan Burrell had 16 points for Walsh and forward Jeff Copeland had 13 points. The Cavaliers knocked down 11 three-pointers, all in the second half. The only team to have more triples against the Eagles this season was Wayne State (12).
Getting back to Yates, his previous single-game high in points was 31 against Point Park on Nov. 23, 2011.
The Eagles host Malone on Saturday (Feb. 9, 1 p.m.).
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