Box Score The Ashland University men's basketball team led No. 11 Ferris State wire-to-wire on Thursday (Jan. 30) night and upset the Bulldogs, 65-53, at Kates Gymnasium.
The Eagles (11-9, 4-8 GLIAC) have now won three straight and four of their last five as they continue their ascent in the GLIAC standings.
Playing without senior center Drew Noble, who missed the first game of his career with an injury, the Eagles got strong performances from across the board, including standout production from freshman forward CJ Karsatos.
Karsatos eclipsed his season-high in minutes and more than doubled his scoring career high by posting 12 points on 5-for-7 shooting in 24 minutes. He scored five straight points for the Eagles as they built a 15-6 lead through the first seven minutes of the game.
"When the ball comes to me, I try not to force anything," Karsatos said. "My teammates found me tonight and I was able to hit those shots."
The Eagles were superb on the defensive end, holding one of the nation's top scoring teams 35 points under its season average. The Bulldogs (20-4, 9-3 GLIAC) came in averaging 88 points per game.
"They're a really good team and our focus on defense has been going up every day in practice," said redshirt-junior wing Aaron Thompson, who finished with a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double. "We keep each other accountable, we're bringing energy every game, every day. The energy helps everyone be on the same page."
The Eagles built their lead to as many as 10 in the first half, then went up by 11, 41-30, with 15:17 to play on Thompson's layup.
Ferris State stayed in the game and whittled the margin down to three, 46-43, but senior guard Rodrick Caldwell stepped into a 3-pointer with 9:10 remaining to make it a six-point game again.
"My teammates have confidence in me," Caldwell said. "I didn't play a lot in the first half because of foul trouble. When we got to the locker room at halftime, they told me to keep my head up and keep going. They have confidence in me to knock down the shots."
The margin stayed above five points the rest of the game as the Eagles never allowed Ferris State to get into its fast-paced transition game.
That was helped by AU's ability to limit turnovers, even against a frantic FSU full-court press. Ashland countered it with three ballhandlers – Caldwell, freshman Brandon Haraway and sophomore Dylan Beaugard.
"Since I've been here, Coach has talked about how good of a defensive team Ferris is," said Caldwell. "They really get into denying (the ball). Taking care of turnovers was big in this game."
Caldwell matched Karsatos for a team high of 12 points to go with three boards, three steals and no turnovers.
Haraway added 11 points for the Eagles and Beaugard added 10 points and three assists.
Walt Kelser led the Bulldogs with 13 points and five assists.
The Eagles will look to keep their winning streak going on Saturday (Feb. 1) when they take on Lake Superior State at 3 p.m. at Kates Gymnasium.
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