Box Score Change rarely comes easy. Those who embrace the winds of change are few and far between.
No one could blame the AU men's basketball team if it dug in its heels and argued vociferously for the status quo. Entering Saturday (Feb. 22) the Eagles owned a 22-game winning streak against the Tiffin Dragons.
These 2014 Dragons could be considered new wave. They didn't invent the internet, but they did put an end to that string of AU dominance, beating the Eagles, 78-69 Saturday in Tiffin.
Ashland is 10-15, 7-14 in the GLIAC. Tiffin is 10-15 and 6-14. The Eagles have one game left in their season - a home date with Lake Erie on Thursday (Feb. 28, 7:30 p.m.).
This game had six lead changes and three ties. Most of that trading of the lead came in the opening half. At halftime, the teams were tied, 36-36.
The Dragons put some distance between themselves and the Eagles by going on a 16-4 jaunt in the first 7:25 of the second half and led, 52-40 with 12:35 to play in the game. Guard Joe Graessle, one of the GLIAC's most prolific scorers, scored seven points in that stretch and Khaleal McCormick had six points.
The Eagles managed to cut that margin down to 67-63 with 2:47 to play after guard Cole Krizancic's layup. Tiffin answered with a pair of made free throws with 2:15 left to up the lead to 69-63. Ashland turned the ball over on its next possession and Tiffin's Mike Boan hit two free throws for a 71-63 lead.
AU's Will Evans was off the mark on a three-pointer with 1:27 left and Graessle was good on two free throws at the 1:14 mark. At that point Tiffin led, 73-63. AU had nothing left to counter that.
Graessle had 27 points. He was 6-of-8 from the field and 14-of-15 at the charity stripe. McCormick had 24 points He was 7-of-14 on field goal tries and 9-of-13 at the free throw line. Boan had 12 points.
For the game, Tiffin made 27-of-34 free throw attempts (79.4 percent) and connected on 24-of-46 field goal tries (52.2 percent). In the second half the Dragons outscored the Eagles, 42-33, but had only nine field goals (9-of-17). Tiffin converted 22-of-27 free throw attempts in the final 20 minutes.
Evans paced the Eagles with 21 points and eight rebounds. He was successful on 3-of-4 shots from three-point distance. Freshman forward Wendell Davis had 11 points and 13 rebounds and Krizancic scored 12 points. Freshman guard Boo Osborne contributed 11 points and four assists.
Ashland won the battle of the boards, 35-26.
AU
MBKB/ALK
