Avenging a loss on the road earlier this season, Ashland University's men's basketball team won for the 10
th time in the last 11 games, 83-64, against longtime rival Findlay on Thursday (Jan. 19) night at the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium.
The Eagles improve to 12-5 overall and 8-2 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, while the Oilers are 10-7, 5-4. AU moves to a full game behind first-place Hillsdale in the league standings, pending the Chargers' game Thursday at Kentucky Wesleyan, and is alone in second place in the league standings.
"Our guys responded. We had a lot of adversity going into tonight," said Ashland head coach
John Ellenwood.
Ashland split the regular-season series with Findlay in 2022-23, following a 76-68 loss on the road on Dec. 1 – a game in which the Eagles led late.
WHAT HAPPENED
- The Eagles kept the Oilers off the board for the first 2:45 of the game, and after the initial 4:40 came off the clock, Ashland led by an 8-2 count.
- Leading 12-2, the Eagles kept their feet on the gas, moving that advantage to 19-4 halfway through the first half. With 7:04 left to the break, AU led, 26-8.
- By halftime, the Eagles led 45-27, and the reasons were many – making 20-of-30 from the field and 5-of-10 from 3-point range, 12 assists to only five turnovers, and a defense which kept the Oilers to 34.6 percent from the floor.
- In that first 20 minutes, redshirt freshman forward Maceo Williams scored 12 points and made all six shots from the field, while senior guard Ethan Conley added 10 points.
- Findlay chipped away at its deficit to start the second half, getting to within 11 points at 49-38 before Conley's triple put the AU lead back to 14. At the under-12 media timeout, the Eagles continued to have the Oilers at arm's length at 61-46.
- Another Conley 3-pointer with five minutes remaining put the Eagles on top 72-55, and Findlay was unable to mount a comeback the rest of the way.
THE WRAP-UP
- Five Eagles ended with double-digit points, led by Conley's 19 points to go with four rebounds and three assists.
- "I really want to bring the intensity on defense first," said Conley. "The offense will come. You've just got to lock up the other players, do what you can on the defensive side, and the offensive side will come."
- Junior center Victor Searls (17 points, six rebounds, three blocks, 8-of-9 shooting) and Williams (15 points, 7-for-7 shooting) combined for 32 points and a 15-for-16 shooting effort inside.
- "I thought our bigs played tremendous," Ellenwood said. "Just something we needed out of those guys. I'm proud of them for that (shooting)."
- Fifth-year forward James Manns ended with 16 points, and freshman point guard Derrick James went for 10 points and six assists.
- Senior guard Brandon Haraway tied his career high with eight assists in the victory.
- Ashland made 61.8 percent from the field, and dished out 20 assists on 34 made field goals. The Eagles also scored 21 points on 12 Oiler turnovers.
UP NEXT
Ashland goes back on the road on Saturday (Jan. 21) at 3 p.m. to take on Tiffin (7-9, 5-5).
