Box Score Ashland University's men's basketball team finished its first homestand of 2015-16 at 3-0 following an 89-47 victory over Silver Lake on Friday (Nov. 20) night.
The Eagles have started 3-0 for the second season in a row (the 2014-15 team began 6-0). The Lakers fall to 3-8.
"It's good to go into the holidays and get a good win," said Ashland head coach John Ellenwood. "The other thing is guys that practice hard, they need some minutes. This was a great game for that, and they got a lot of minutes for us. It's a lot of fun to watch the guys who bust their butt every day get on the floor, and then get to coach them up."
The 42-point victory was Ashland's largest since a 91-49 home win against Thiel on Nov. 24, 2014.
Three Eagles led the team in scoring with 13 points – junior forward Wendell Davis, freshman guard Nick Bapst and freshman forward Phil Frentsos. Bapst was 3-for-7 from 3-point range and also added five rebounds in 16 minutes.
"Nick Bapst had a great game for us, and was able to get some confidence with a game like this," Ellenwood said. "We're developing a bench, is what that is. We're getting a bench organized here. That's good."
"It felt great to finally get in there and knock a shot down," Bapst said. "All the guys have been finding me all year. It just took a couple games, but it feels really good to be in there and knock those down."
Bapst is averaging 17 minutes per game off the bench for Ashland in the early going.
"That was a big reason that I came here," Bapst said of the ability to play right away. "Great program, and I knew that I could come in and contribute big right away."
Junior forward Torin Wetzel (12) and junior guard Adrian Cook (11) also scored in double figures. Davis added six assists, and Cook and sophomore forward Marsalis Hamilton each had a team-high seven rebounds.
Ashland, which shot 57.5 percent from the free-throw line in the first two games, hit 23-of-27 (85.2 percent) against the Lakers. The Eagles also turned the ball over just nine times, their lowest single-game mark since eight at home against Tiffin on Feb. 21, 2015.
Ashland is 19-4 in its last 23 games against non-conference opponents.
The Eagles will go on the road for the first time this season to play in the post-Thanksgiving Gannon Tournament on Nov. 27-28.
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