The Ashland University men's basketball team locked up Saginaw Valley all game and started on fire offensively for the second straight night as the Eagles defeated the Cardinals, 83-57, on Friday (March 5) in Hammond, Ind. to advance to the GLIAC Tournament championship game.
The Eagles (13-8) will play the winner of the Grand Valley State-Michigan Tech semifinal for the title at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday. The GLIAC Tournament champion will gain an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
"This is one of the best leagues in the country," said head coach
John Ellenwood. "For us to be representing our school the last year in this league, it means a lot. Top to bottom, this league is so strong. If you sleep on any team, they're going to beat you."
It is the second time in program history Ashland has advanced to the GLIAC Tournament championship game as the Eagles seek their first GLIAC title. The other appearance came in 2017 and ended in an 80-79 defeat to Ferris State
"It's special," Ellenwood said. "It's been a tough year, everyone knows that. For these guys to get this opportunity, I couldn't be prouder of them. I'm just trying not to get in their way right now. They're having fun playing basketball."
Ashland was dominant from the outset, going out to an 8-0 lead in the first three minutes as senior guard
Bo Furcron started with a 3-pointer and senior forward
Derek Koch scored the next five points.
The lead ballooned to 10 points minutes later with back-to-back 3-pointers by sophomore guards
Ethan Conley and
Brandon Haraway.
The Eagles continued to grow their lead as freshman
Hunter Shedenhelm buried Ashland's 11
th 3-pointer of the half to give the Eagles a 48-26 advantage going into the break.
After scoring 56 points in the first half of their 100-85 win over Ferris State on Thursday, the Eagles allowed the Bulldogs to get back in the game in the second half.
That did not happen on Friday.
Ashland kept its foot on the gas and maintained a cushion of 20-plus points for almost the entire second half.
Defensively, the Eagles held the Cardinals to just 34 percent (20-for-59) shooting and just five 3-pointers. The Eagles shot 46 percent from the field and hit 13 triples in the game.
"They're locked in," Ellenwood said. "If you can do it on both ends, you're going to be a tough team to beat this time of year. People throw different things at us and our guys responded. It's fun to watch your guys play great basketball."
Haraway led the Eagles with 25 points after scoring 35 on Thursday night. He has scored at least 16 points in each of his last 13 games.
Furcron had 16 points and seven rebounds and Koch finished with 13 points and four rebounds. Senior wing
Aaron Thompson had his sixth double-double in his last eight games with 10 points and a season-high 15 rebounds.
Conley contributed nine points in 28 minutes off the bench and Shedenhelm scored eight points as the duo combined to hit five treys.
Myles Belyeu led the Cardinals with 19 points on 7-for-15 shooting, but committed six of SVSU's eight turnovers.
The Eagles and either GVSU or Michigan Tech will play at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday in Hammond, Ind. for the conference title. The game will air on WRDL-FM 88.9 and links to watch the game can be found at
www.goashlandeagles.com.
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