On Friday (Nov. 11) night at The Nexus Classic in Kenosha, Wis., Ashland University's men's basketball team lost an 80-67 decision to Illinois Springfield in the first meeting between the two teams on the hardwood, as well as the season-opener for both sides.
 
WHAT HAPPENED

• Neither team was able to pull away in the early going, and the score was tied at 13 with 11:48 left in the first half. At that point, all of AU's points were scored by senior guard Brandon Haraway (eight) and junior center Victor Searls (five).
• Trailing 27-16, the Eagles scored the game's next five points to get to within six, then a 33-24 UIS lead became a 33-30 contest after six more Ashland points in a row.
• By halftime, it was a Prairie Stars 12-0 run which lifted them to a 45-32 lead at the break. Haraway had 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting in the first 20 minutes.
• Ashland was behind by 19 points at 62-43 before starting another comeback. Nine points in a row cut the deficit to 10, but the Eagles couldn't get any closer than 10 the rest of the way.

 
THE WRAP-UP

• Haraway finished with a game-high 23 points, which moves him into 25^th place on Ashland's all-time scoring list with 1,106. He was 8-of-11 from the field, 2-of-3 from 3-point range and 5-of-7 from the free-throw line, and added eight rebounds.
• In his first collegiate game, freshman point guard Simon Wheeler scored 16 points, and was 5-of-5 from the charity stripe.
• Ashland as a team was 14-of-17 from the free-throw line, and kept UIS to 42.3 percent from the floor in the second half after the Prairie Stars hit 52.9 percent in the first half.

 
UP NEXT
The second and final game at the regional crossover tournament on Saturday (Nov. 12) at 8 p.m. against host Parkside.