Box Score The Ashland University men's basketball team led by two points at halftime, but Davenport scored the first nine points of the second half and never trailed after that as the Panthers came away with a 61-48 win on Saturday (Jan. 11) afternoon at Kates Gymnasium.
The Eagles (7-8, 0-7 GLIAC) played stifling defense in the first half, holding the Panthers (12-5, 4-3 GLIAC) to just 32 percent (8-for-25) shooting from the field.
Ashland trailed by nine with 6:50 left in the first half, but freshman guard Ethan Conley and senior guard Rodrick Caldwell each hit 3-pointers and Caldwell followed with a runner to cut the deficit to 21-20 with four minutes remaining.
The Eagles continued to hold the Panthers without a field goal late in the half as they built a 26-22 advantage before a layup by Evan Hines stopped the run to make it 26-24 heading into the break.
"We got penetration and slowed down the tempo," said AU head coach John Ellenwood. "They want to play up-tempo, I'm not built that way. We did a good job controlling that."
The Panthers scored on their first four possessions of the second half while the Eagles went 0-for-2 with two turnovers as the game flipped in the first two minutes of the half.
"They fly around better than anyone else (in the league)," Ellenwood said. "They play hard, that's their culture. They won the league last year because of it."
A layup by junior forward Derek Koch cut the margin to 38-35 with 11 minutes left, but that was the last time it would be within a possession.
"It's frustrating when I know that our team could be playing better than we are, regardless of what the score is," said Caldwell, who scored a game-high 18 points. "Win, lose or draw, I know myself and our team can give a better effort. That's more frustrating than the wins and losses."
The Panthers shot 60 percent (15-for-25) in the second half.
Freshman guard Brandon Haraway chipped in 13 points and four rebounds. Redshirt-junior wing Aaron Thompson collected a team-high nine rebounds to go with five points.
Tafari Beckford had a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double for Davenport while Hines led the visitors with 12 points.
The Eagles will look to break their skid on Thursday (Jan. 16) when they travel to Purdue Northwest for an 8 p.m. Eastern tip-off.
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