For the second straight day, the Ashland University men's basketball team jumped out to a double-digit lead before halftime and put away Davenport with time to spare, 82-66, on Saturday (Jan. 30) afternoon in Grand Rapids, Mich.
The Eagles (6-4, 6-3 GLIAC) finished their five-game road trip with a 4-1 record and have won five of their last six overall. Ashland will finish the regular season with seven of their last nine games at Kates Gymnasium beginning Friday against Parkside.
Saturday's contest could have gone awry in the opening minute as sophomore
Brandon Haraway headed to the bench with two quick fouls, but sophomore reserve
Luke Metzger dropped in a 3-pointer on the next possession to open the scoring.
Senior guard
Bo Furcron then hit back-to-back triples to give the Eagles a 9-0 lead less than four minutes into the game as the visitors held the Panthers (2-7, 2-7 GLIAC) to an 0-for-5 start.
Those were the first of 17 3-pointers the Eagles would hit in the game, their most since the 2017 GLIAC Tournament semifinal when they hit 21 in a win over Findlay. Seven different players hit a 3-pointer in the game.
Davenport came all the way back to take a 13-11 lead with 12:29 left, but Metzger's 3-pointer put the Eagles ahead again.
The game was tied at 16 when Ashland went on a 10-0 run that included treys by Metzger and senior forward
Derek Koch and two buckets by senior wing
Aaron Thompson.
The lead stayed at eight or above the remainder of the game.
With Haraway having played just 62 seconds in the first half, the Eagles had six other players score at least four points before halftime, getting 10 from freshman guard
Hunter Shedenhelm and nine from Metzger.
Haraway rebounded in the second half, scoring all 16 of his points after halftime to match Koch for the team lead in the game.
Thompson finished with 14 points and a career-high seven assists and Shedenhelm totaled 13 points. Sophomore guard
Ethan Conley chipped in seven points and four rebounds off the bench.
The Eagles shot 53 percent (29-for-55) from the field and 46 percent (17-for-37) from 3-point range. They held the Panthers to just 40 percent (22-for-55) shooting.
Chris Rollins paced the Panthers with 25 points on 9-for-17 shooting.
The Eagles will start a two-game series with Parkside on Friday (Feb. 5) at 4 p.m. at Kates Gymnasium.
AU
MBB/BB
