Eagle Men Stay In Great Midwest Hunt Following Home Win Over Jackets

The formula was a winning one for Ashland University's men's basketball team on Saturday (Jan. 22) afternoon.
 
Another big scoring night from senior guard Bo Furcron plus stifling first-half defense equaled a 77-60 Eagle victory over Cedarville on Saturday at the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium. Ashland, now 5-2 in its last seven games, are 10-6 overall and 7-3 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference – one game behind co-leaders Walsh and Malone.
 
"It's nice to get that win, and it's good to see the ball go through that net," said Ashland head coach John Ellenwood. "We're starting to get in a rhythm. Their defense is tough to go against with the matchup zone. We don't see that style of defense, but our guys executed really well."
 
The Yellow Jackets are 9-7, 6-4.
 
WHAT HAPPENED

• After the Yellow Jackets scored the first three points of the game, the Eagles responded with the next six. At the first media timeout, Ashland led 12-5 – and Furcron had all 12 points.
• The Eagles extended their advantage to 18-5, with all 18 points coming from beyond the arc. It was a 12-0 AU run at that point, and by the time the Eagles took a 29-9 advantage, the run was 23-4.
• At halftime, Ashland led Cedarville, 38-17, and Furcron had 21 points (one off his career high) on 7-of-7 from the field, 5-of-5 from downtown and 2-of-2 from the free-throw line. The Eagles shot 53.8 percent from the field and 50 percent from beyond the arc, and kept the Yellow Jackets to 17.9 percent from the floor.
• "That's good defense. I'm just proud of our guys, and the effort and the focus they had," Ellenwood said.
• Ashland increased its lead to a game-high 26 points at 44-18, but Cedarville worked the deficit down to 15 points at 49-34, then to 13 points at 52-39. The Yellow Jackets were behind by a dozen points at 63-51 inside of four minutes, but an old-fashioned 3-point play from sophomore guard Tre Baumgardner put the AU lead back to 15 points, and Ashland went on to win from there.

 
THE WRAP-UP

• Furcron ended the night with a career-high 29 points on 9-for-10 shooting, 5-of-6 from downtown and 6-of-7 from the free-throw line. He added six rebounds in the victory.
• "We have a great team, and God is really good. It's not me. I can't take credit for it," Furcron said. "They (the team) is more happy than I am."
• "I'm proud of him. He's a fun kid to coach," said Ellenwood. "I told the guys the other day, there's guys on this team I wish I could coach them forever."
• Senior forward Aaron Thompson ended with 14 points, and with 1,357 in his Eagle career, moves into 13^th place on Ashland's all-time list. Junior guard Brandon Haraway finished with 11 points and five assists.
• The Eagles shot a season-high 50 percent from the field, and was 22-for-32 from the foul line. Cedarville was kept to 32.1 percent from the floor for the game.
• Ashland is 37-10 all-time against Cedarville.

 
UP NEXT
Ashland will stay at home to finish up three games in five days on Monday (Jan. 24) at 4 p.m. vs. Trevecca Nazarene (4-13, 1-9).
 
"Even the games that we've lost, we've lost right at the buzzer," Furcron said. "I feel like we should be on a five-, six-game winning streak. We're just getting better and better. Hopefully, this can keep translating for us down the line."