Box Score CANTON, Ohio – History also has a way of not repeating itself.
A year ago, Ashland University's men's basketball team had a nine-point halftime lead at Walsh, and lost. Thursday (Feb. 4) night, the No. 25-ranked Eagles had a 12-point halftime lead on the road against the Cavaliers, and won, 70-64.
The Eagles improve to 18-4 overall and 12-4 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, and continue to be one game behind Findlay for first place in the South Division and two games behind Saginaw Valley State for first in the overall conference standings.
"They're a great team. They've got some great scorers," said Ashland head coach John Ellenwood. "It was good to finally get that victory. They've got guys with some heart, and we've got guys with some heart.
"Something's got to give, and we're very fortunate to come out with a win."
Walsh is 10-10, 8-8.
Junior forward Wendell Davis led the way with 20 points and added six rebounds, two assists and two steals. He now has 1,196 career points, which is 15th on the program's all-time scoring list.
Junior point guard Adrian Cook added 16 points and a team-high eight boards, while junior guard Boo Osborne posted 12 points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals.
Ashland shot 47.6 percent from the field, and kept the Cavs to 34.9 percent from the floor.
Ashland scored the game's first six points, then, after Walsh cut its deficit to 18-14, went on a 9-0 run to increase its lead to 13 points. Even with a last-second Cavalier driving layup to end the first half, the Eagles led 33-21 at the break, and did so thanks to a defense which kept Walsh to 25.8-percent shooting from the field and 21.4-percent shooting from the arc.
"I thought our defense in the first half was outstanding," Ellenwood said. "We did a good job of mixing it up a little bit. Our guys were really focus."
At the first media timeout of the second half, AU continued to keep Walsh at bay, 44-31, with 14:52 remaining. The Eagles then began to pull away, leading 48-31, before the Cavaliers began a run of their own. Thirteen consecutive points cut the Ashland lead to 48-44 at the media break with 9:42 to play.
Davis' layup out of the timeout stopped the streak, and the Eagles led 63-57 with 4:31 to go before a Cavalier 4-point play cut their lead to two. Ashland never lost the lead, however, and withstood a late Walsh charge for the victory.
The Eagles will return to Kates Gymnasium to begin a three-game homestand on Saturday (Feb. 6) at 3 p.m. against Malone (5-16, 2-14).
"We've got three home and three away, but the next game's the only one that matters," said Ellenwood. "Malone is going to try to come into our place and ruin it. We've got to be focused on Malone."
Game Highlights
AU
MBKB/DS
