Playing host to a 2022 Great Midwest Athletic Conference Tournament first-round game on Tuesday (March 1) night, Ashland University's men's basketball team lost to Cedarville, 70-55.
The Eagles are 18-10, while the Yellow Jackets' tournament run continues at 18-11.
"We're on fumes right now," said Ashland head coach
John Ellenwood. "I thought our guys did a lot better job in the second half. We did OK. Credit to them, they played really well."
WHAT HAPPENED
- The start of the game was what one would expect of a postseason game, with the Eagles and Yellow Jackets trading jabs. Ashland's early 7-4 lead was countered by Cedarville going on a 12-2 run.
- Down 20-13, the Eagles scored the next eight points to re-take the lead, capped by a driving layup from senior forward Aaron Thompson. Ashland's deficit was 29-26 before the Yellow Jackets scored the next five points for their largest lead to that point of eight points.
- At the break, Cedarville led 38-30, and the differences were key – the Yellow Jackets shot 60.0 percent from the field and 50.0 percent from 3-point range, while the Eagles were 45.5 and 33.3, respectively. Cedarville also had a 15-8 rebounding advantage.
- To start the second half, the Yellow Jackets didn't score for the first 4:10, but Ashland only scored three points itself. Coming out of the first media timeout of the half, the Eagles were down by a 42-33 count.
- Cedarville increased its largest lead to that point to 53-36 halfway through the second half, and then went up by 21 at 60-39.
THE WRAP-UP
- Senior guard Bo Furcron led AU with 11 points, while sophomore guard Tre Baumgardner followed with 10.
- Ashland made 40.4 percent from the field, 31.8 percent from 3-point range and 71.4 percent from the free-throw line. Cedarville connected on 46.9 percent from the floor and 86.4 percent from the charity stripe, while out-rebounding the Eagles 37-22.
UP NEXT
The third set of Midwest Regional rankings will be released on Wednesday (March 2), and the NCAA announcement of the Division II postseason field will be Sunday (March 6) at 10:30 p.m. on NCAA.com.
"The tough part of the end of seasons, if this is the end of our season…is you lose great people that you are around a lot," Ellenwood said. "I'm going to miss them. I just want to make sure our guys that are coming in after them, and the guys returning next year, understand how great these guys were."
AU
MBKB/DS
