The Ashland University men's basketball team endured a defensive battle and came out with a 52-48 win over GLIAC North-leading Parkside at Kates Gymnasium on Friday (Feb. 5) evening.
The Eagles (7-4, 7-3 GLIAC) remain atop the GLIAC South standings and are tied with Michigan Tech for the best record in the conference.
On Friday, the Eagles and Rangers traded the lead 10 times in the second half as both teams delivered blow after blow.
Brandon Hau gave the Rangers (6-4, 6-4 GLIAC) a 40-39 lead with just under 10 minutes to play, but senior wing
Aaron Thompson gave the Eagles the lead a minute later on a layup from a swift feed by freshman
Hunter Shedenhelm.
Both teams then went two minutes without scoring, but it was sophomore guard
Brandon Haraway, who broke the ice with a bucket to make it 43-40. He scored again a minute later to push the lead to five as the Eagles held Parkside without a point for five-and-a-half minutes.
"We watch a lot of film and our coaches work really hard on knowing tendencies and plays," Thompson said. "Once we know that we're able to dig down, play hard and get stops."
The Rangers worked it down to one point on two separate occasions, but Haraway hit a layup to make it 49-46, and Thompson followed a Haraway miss with a tip-in with 16 seconds left to give Ashland a 51-48 lead.
Hau missed a 3-pointer on the other end before the Eagles missed at the free throw line to set up another chance for the Rangers, who inbounded with five seconds left, but turned the ball over. Senior forward
Derek Koch iced the game with a free throw with 0.7 seconds remaining.
"I saw some toughness out of our guys and some grit," said head coach
John Ellenwood. "We didn't give them a lot of second chance points which I think was huge. There was a lid on both buckets tonight for both teams and you had to get those stops. You know you're not scoring, you have to get back and make sure they don't score. Both teams had that mentality tonight."
Haraway led the Eagles with 16 points, seven rebounds and four steals while Koch chipped in 12 points and six rebounds.
Despite a tough shooting night, Thompson finished with eight points and 10 rebounds. He passed Kale Richardson to move to fourth on Ashland's all-time rebounding list with 745.
"When I came in, I didn't know I was going to be the rebounder I am," Thompson said. "I just like going out and playing hard. That's what I really take pride in, whether it's rebounds, steals, points, assists, whatever it is. I take pride in playing hard."
"AT is your classic undersized player who has a heart that's bigger than anybody else's," Ellenwood said. "He brings it every single day. He's hard on himself and I think that's the secret to his success. He's been a great player. No one really recruited him out of high school, and I sat there watching him do everything really well. I've coached some great players and
Aaron Thompson is one of those great players."
Solomon Oraegbu led the Rangers with 19 points and eight rebounds.
The Eagles had a 37-31 edge on the glass as both teams shot 36 percent from the floor.
The teams will battle again on Saturday (Feb. 6) at 4 p.m. at Kates Gymnasium.
AU
MBB/BB
