Box Score It isn't easy to win in the Upper Peninsula.
Ashland University's men's basketball team, however, made itself right at home Thursday (Jan. 8) night at Northern Michigan, taking a 65-52 decision from the Wildcats. The Eagles now are 10-3 overall and 4-3 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, remain in the first place in the GLIAC South Division and increased their divisional lead to two games over Findlay, Wayne State and Lake Erie.
Northern Michigan falls to 5-8, 3-4.
Thursday's victory, the Eagles' first in Marquette, Mich., since Feb. 4, 2010, was an offensively-balanced one. Sophomore forward Jett Speelman paced Ashland with 15 points off the bench, and now has 51 points in the last five games. Fellow sophomore forward Wendell Davis was next with 12 points to go with seven rebounds, while senior guard Cole Krizancic and freshman forward Marsalis Hamilton each added 11 points.
Senior guard DaWuan Thomas had team-highs in both rebounds (eight) and assists (four).
Ashland out-rebounded Northern Michigan, 38-22. The Eagles' season-long strong defensive effort continued Thursday, yielding just 52 points on 43.1-percent shooting from the field and 21.4-percent shooting from the 3-point line.
The Eagles led 24-22 with 3½ minutes to go until halftime and were up 30-25 at halftime. Ashland's lead was just one at 30-29 early in the second half before the Eagles went on a 12-3 run. Northern Michigan kept pushing back, trailing 47-41 with nine minutes to go, but another Eagles run – this one 16-5 – put the game away.
Ashland will finish its U.P. trip Saturday (Jan. 10) at 2 p.m. against Michigan Tech.
NOTES: Ashland head coach John Ellenwood now has 75 victories guiding the Eagles…Thursday's victory was Ashland's largest GLIAC road win since that last triumph at Northern Michigan almost five full years ago (86-70)…Ashland now is 7-3 in its last 10 meetings with the Wildcats…The Eagles have given up 30 or fewer points in a half 14 times this season.
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