The defense was strong, there was just enough offense, and the dunks were coming fast and furious for Ashland University's men's basketball team on Thursday night at the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium.
Thanks to a 65-51 victory over Ohio Dominican on Thursday, the Eagles have swept the season series against the Panthers, and have moved to 9-6 overall and 6-3 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. ODU is 4-12, 2-7.
Ashland has kept opponents to less than 60 points in seven of 15 games so far in 2021-22.
"I'm always a believer that you have to rely on your defense, especially down the stretch," said Ashland head coach
John Ellenwood. "In tight games, you have to rely on guys getting stops."
Ashland continues to be one game behind Malone and Walsh in the loss column atop the Great Midwest standings. The Eagles are one of six teams in the league to have either two or three conference defeats.
WHAT HAPPENED
- The two teams stayed close early, as there were two lead changes and two ties in the first 6½ minutes. Ashland led 7-6, but the Panthers went on a 7-1 spurt to take a 13-7 lead.
- Ohio Dominican extended the lead to 17-9, then to 20-10 – which is when the Panthers called a timeout. That stoppage ended up benefitting the Eagles, as a 13-0 run put AU ahead 23-20.
- Ashland kept putting the pressure on, and a 10-0 run to end the first half made the lead 33-22. The Panthers had as many first-half turnovers as field-goal attempts (15), and senior guard Bo Furcron and sophomore Tre Baumgardner each had 11 points.
- A thunderous dunk from junior forward Ethan Conley put the Eagles ahead 41-29, then another from sophomore guard Hunter Shedenhelm made it a 43-31 game. Ashland's largest lead was 19 points at 57-38, and the Eagles went to victory from there.
THE WRAP-UP
- Furcron led the Eagles with 17 points, was 8-for-8 from the free-throw line, and added six rebounds, three assists and three steals. He started the dunk parade, which saw four AU players flush the basketball in the victory.
- "We're trying to find different ways to score," Furcron said. "That's what I've done my whole life. I try my best to make every shot that I get. When you're looking for different ways to score…dunks definitely motivate everybody. Any way that we can get an advantage, we try to do that."
- Said Ellenwood, "He's having a great stretch of games here. We're going to need him. And the thing I like is the assists to turnovers (three to zero on Thursday)."
- Of the dunks, Ellenwood said, "They're exciting to get the crowd into it. To me, they are high-percentage shots, and that's the ultimate breakdown of a defense if you can get a dunk."
- Junior guard Brandon Haraway and Baumgardner each ended with 11 points.
- Ashland forced 22 turnovers, turning them into 30 points.
- "We're not a team that really gets a lot of turnovers," said Ellenwood. "We had more possessions with shots than they did, and that's important."
- The Eagles are 33-3 all-time against the Panthers.
UP NEXT
Ashland will play another Great Midwest home game on Saturday (Jan. 22) at 3 p.m. vs. Cedarville (10-6, 6-3).
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