It was yet another close game on Thursday (Feb. 17) for Ashland University's men's basketball team, but the decision went the way of the visiting team.
On Thursday at the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium, Walsh won the game for sole possession of first place in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, 70-68, over the Eagles. Ashland is 16-8 overall and 12-5 in the Great Midwest, while the Cavaliers are alone in first in the league at 18-6, 13-4.
"It just didn't come out our way," said Ashland head coach
John Ellenwood. "They got some lucky bounces. A couple rebounds we have to get, shot clock situations. They gutted out a win. Give them credit.
"I thought we did some things really well."
One of the bright spots on Thursday night was junior guard
Brandon Haraway, whose 15 points allowed him to become the 31
st player in Ashland men's basketball history to get to 1,000 in a career (1,002).
"He's a great person. He works his butt off, and I'm very proud of him," Ellenwood said. "He is a wonderful person to coach every single day, and I'm very proud that he's able to join our 1,000-point club here."
WHAT HAPPENED
- Four consecutive 3-point field goals lifted Ashland to an early 14-2 lead. The Eagle lead was 17-4 before the Cavaliers began to chip away at it, and halfway through the first half, Walsh was down by six points at 23-17.
- In the hunt for career point No. 1,000, Haraway started out on fire, scoring 11 of the 13 points he needed in the first eight-plus minutes. He got No. 1,000 on a layup at the 6:31 mark of the opening half, to put the Eagles ahead, 29-21.
- Walsh continued to keep chipping away, and got to within a single point at 31-30 before the Eagles called a timeout at the 3:35 mark of the first half. With 1:43 left until the half, a Cavaliers trey gave Walsh a 33-31 lead.
- At halftime, the Eagles trailed 36-32, as Walsh outscored them 32-15 after the early 13-point AU advantage.
- Early in the second half, Ashland slowly began to chip away at its deficit, and got the game to 46-44 on a hook shot from senior forward Aaron Thompson. Then, with 12:51 to go, sophomore guard Tre Baumgardner's triple at the top of the circle put the Eagles back on top, 47-46.
- By the time senior guard Bo Furcron's triple went through the hoop, forcing a Cavalier timeout, Ashland had a 50-46 advantage, and an 8-0 run. The run would end at 12-0, and with the Eagles leading 54-47.
- The Eagles and Cavaliers kept battling, and Ashland was able to keep Walsh from re-taking the lead for most of the rest of the game, even though the two teams kept going back and forth between a two-point and a four-point margin.
- With 1:32 to play, a Walsh triple finally did put it back on top, 64-63. Thompson, however, with just a little more than 60 seconds to go, made a layup for the game's fourth lead change.
- The Cavaliers turned in the game's fifth lead change on a layup inside of the final minute at 66-65, and with 19.6 seconds to play, Walsh made one free throw, then got the ball back on the miss. Given another chance to get to a two-score game, the Cavaliers did at 69-65.
- Furcron kept the Eagles' hopes alive with a triple for a 69-68 deficit, but only 5.9 seconds remained. Walsh made 1-of-2, and a last-second Eagle triple to win missed the mark.
THE WRAP-UP
- Haraway led the team with nine rebounds and added four assists, but the milestone is the story. He joins his brother, Ben Haraway, in the AU 1,000-point club.
- "Just trying to finish out the season strong. Wouldn't be here without my teammates," Haraway said. "We're going to try to finish out strong. He (my brother) motivates me. Now, I'm just trying to get past him."
- Thompson paced Ashland's offense with 20 points to go with seven rebounds and five assists, while Furcron added 14 points and three blocked shots. Thompson has 1,487 career points, narrowly moving past Drew Noble (1,486) for 11th place on the program's all-time scoring list.
- Ashland made 45.5 percent from the field, and kept the Cavaliers to 40.7 percent.
UP NEXT
Ashland will go to Malone (17-6, 12-4) for another key Great Midwest contest on Saturday (Feb. 19) at 3 p.m.
AU
MBKB/DS
