Following a 62-59 road win on Wednesday (Jan. 26) night against Lake Erie, Ashland University's men's basketball team has pulled into a flat-footed tie for first place in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference.
Thanks to their fourth win in a row, and seventh win in the last nine games, the Eagles are 12-6 overall and 9-3 in the Great Midwest. Ashland joins Malone and Walsh (each 8-2) as being a league-best six games above .500.
The Storm are 8-9, 2-8.
WHAT HAPPENED
- Junior guard Ethan Conley's 3-point field goal put Ashland on top 10-9, but a corner triple for the Storm put Lake Erie back ahead at 12-10. With the game tied at 14, senior forward Aaron Thompson's trey put the Eagles back ahead at 17-14.
- There was little room between Ashland and Lake Erie for the majority of the first half, but the Eagles ran out to a 26-17 lead inside of the six-minute mark, with a 3 from senior forward Derek Koch forcing a Storm timeout.
- By halftime, Koch had scored a season-high-tying 16 points, helping Ashland to a 36-27 lead. The Eagles made 53.8 percent from the field and 50.0 percent from 3-point range in the first 20 minutes, and their trademark defense kept the Storm to 32.3 percent from the field and 17.6 percent from downtown.
- Lake Erie worked its deficit down to 42-37, then to 46-42, then to 48-44. Inside of the nine-minute mark, it was a 50-46 AU lead, and with 8:31 to play, the Eagles were in the bonus.
- Thompson's layup with 2:42 to go made it a 58-52 contest, but four straight Storm points made the lead just two points.
- A missed layup by Lake Erie gave the Eagles the ball back in the final minute, then junior guard Brandon Haraway made a pair of charity tosses with 29.9 seconds to go to make it 60-56. The Storm made 1-of-2 free throws, then missed a shot from the field, allowing AU to potentially clinch the game at the line.
- With 15.9 seconds left, senior guard Bo Furcron made 1-of-2 to make it a four-point game again at 61-57. Another Storm missed layup and Thompson making 1-of-2 at the line effectively ended the contest.
THE WRAP-UP
- Koch ended with a season-high 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting and 3-of-5 from beyond the arc, and added 10 rebounds for a double-double.
- Thompson finished with 17 points on 7-of-9 from the field, and posted four steals.
- The Eagles' season-long strong defensive showing continued on Thursday night, as they kept Lake Erie to 35.9 percent from the field and 23.3 percent from beyond the arc.
- Ashland is 28-3 all-time against the Storm.
UP NEXT
Ashland will return to the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium on Saturday (Jan. 29) at 1 p.m. against Villa Maria.
AU
MBKB/DS
