Box Score A spirited second-half comeback came up short for Ashland University's men's basketball team on Sunday (Jan. 3), as the No. 16-ranked Eagles lost at No. 18 Lake Superior State, 82-76.
Ashland, still in first place in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference's South Division, is 10-2 overall and 4-2 in the GLIAC. The Lakers, leading the GLIAC North Division, improve to 11-1 overall and 6-0 in the conference.
One day after setting a new career-high of 23 points at Northwood, AU junior guard Boo Osborne improved on that on Sunday with 27 points. It was the second straight day with five 3-point field goals for Osborne, who had hit 14 triples in the season's first 10 games and went past the 500-career-point plateau during the weekend (527).
Junior forward Wendell Davis had 16 points and a game-high 10 rebounds against the Lakers for his 13th career double-double, while freshman guard Nick Bapst came off the bench for 10 points.
Davis has 1,033 career points, four behind Kevin Wilson for 23rd on AU's all-time list.
The Eagles hit 18-of-22 free throws (81.8 percent).
Ashland led 11-6 early, and had an 18-16 advantage before the Lakers scored the game's next eight points. Lake Superior State kept the lead for the remainder of the first half, taking a 37-27 lead into the break.
The Lakers extended their lead to 14 points at 49-35 with 15:51 left, but the Eagles began to chip away at their deficit. It was paired down to six points at 51-45 with 14:21 remaining, but Lake Superior State worked its lead back to 58-47 with 10:16 to go.
Ashland geared up for another run, and this one resulted in a 9-0 spurt in just two minutes to pull the Eagles within two points at 58-56. The Lakers, however, extended their lead back to nine points at 68-59 at the 5:28 mark.
A Davis layup got the deficit down to five points at 71-66 with 3:22 to go, and it was a five-point game at 78-73 with 31 seconds left on the clock, but the Eagles could get no closer than four points in the closing seconds.
The Eagles will return home to begin a three-game homestand on Thursday (Jan. 7) at 7:30 p.m. against Northern Michigan. That will be Church Night at Kates Gymnasium.
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