Box Score Ashland University's men's basketball team got a special two-for on Sunday (Dec. 20) night – a 9-1 end to the first semester, and a career points milestone for junior forward Wendell Davis.
Playing for the first time in eight days, the No. 22 Eagles recorded a 78-59 win over Shawnee State (6-8) on Sunday at Kates Gymnasium. The Eagles have gone undefeated in the regular-season non-conference schedule for the second season in a row after having not accomplished the feat as either a member of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference or the Great Lakes Valley Conference prior to 2014-15.
"It's a great accomplishment for us," said Ashland head coach John Ellenwood. "I'm proud of our guys, their effort. This year, especially, non-league play was tough with some of the teams we played. We're playing decent ball, and it's good to go into break knowing that you're in the position you're in."
Coming into Sunday night's game, Davis needed seven points to reach 1,000 for his AU career. He got nine, scoring his 1,000th on a corner 3-point field goal with 6:11 left in the game.
"I knew going in that I had to get seven points," said Davis. "It felt real good, especially to get the win. That was the biggest part of it."
"They do a good job of not letting you score right at the basket," Ellenwood said. "We just went in and knew that, watching film, you're just not going to go 1-on-3 against them and score, because they have some pretty good athletes down low."
Sophomore forward Marsalis Hamilton led the Eagles' offense with 15 points while adding five rebounds and four assists. Freshman guard Nick Bapst came off the bench for 14 points, junior guard Adrian Cook added 13 points, a career-high seven assists and three steals and junior forward Torin Wetzel posted 10 points, a career-high-tying seven boards and a career-best four assists.
Senior center Michael Hundley chipped in with six points, four rebounds and four blocked shots.
Ashland shot 54.7 percent from the field and 73.3 percent from the free-throw line. The Eagles had 22 assists on 29 made field goals, outrebounded Shawnee State 38-29 and turned 13 Bear turnovers into 14 points.
The Eagles led 25-24 with 4:54 to go until halftime before going on an 11-0 run to take a 12-point lead into the break. AU increased its lead in the second half to as many as 22 points at 58-36 with 10:44 to play.
Sunday's game was Ashland's first since a last-second 68-66 home loss to Saginaw Valley State.
"It hurt at that time, but, to be honest, I think it was something that we not necessarily needed, but it helped us," Davis said. "Because when you win so much, you don't know what losing feels like. So when you know what it feels like to lose, you don't want that feeling again."
The Eagles will return to GLIAC play on Saturday, Jan. 2 at 3 p.m. at Northwood.
EAGLE NUGGETS: Ashland is 27-12 (.692) in Hundley's 39 career starts…The Eagles have hit at least 40 percent of their 3-point attempts in four of the last five games…AU has outscored its opponents in 14 of 20 halves in 2015-16.
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