On Monday (Jan. 2) night at the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium, Ashland University's men's basketball team earned its sixth consecutive victory – and put up some impressive statistics in the process.
The Eagles moved to 8-4 after an 88-54 home victory over Miami-Hamilton (9-8) on Monday. The sixth straight win is AU's longest since six from Feb. 26-March 13, 2021.
"I'm proud of our guys," said Ashland head coach
John Ellenwood. "Miami-Hamilton is a very good team, and I know they're not a Division II team, but they would beat a lot of Division II teams, with how scrappy they are and how hard they play."
Ashland came into the game as one of only four NCAA Division II men's basketball teams in the top 20 in the country in both field-goal percentage offense and defense. The Eagles did nothing to hurt either statistic on Monday, finishing with a 65.3 percentage on offense and a 36.7 percentage on defense.
Of the 32 field goals Ashland connected on, 25 were assisted – including a career-high 14 by freshman point guard
Simon Wheeler. The program record for single-game assists is 19, set by
Ricardo Hill in the 1989-90 season.
"Simon did a great job passing the ball," Ellenwood said. "He did a good job finding shooters. When the ball's moved, we're a better team."
WHAT HAPPENED
- Ashland used the long ball to go ahead 13-4 early, with senior guard Ethan Conley making a pair of 3-point field goals. A 7-0 run into the second media timeout of the first half put the Eagles on top 20-7, but the Harriers worked their deficit back to single figures at 24-17.
- After that, Ashland began to extend the lead once again, and that figure was 44-25 at halftime. In the first 20 minutes, the Eagles were a scorching 16-for-20 from the field, but turned the ball over 11 times.
- One more interesting statistic from the first half – Ashland out-rebounded Miami-Hamilton, 16-3.
- The Eagles came out on a 9-2 run to force a Harriers timeout, but Miami-Hamilton got the deficit back to under 20 points at 55-36. Ashland eventually would extend its advantage to 33 points at 71-38, and went on to win from there.
THE WRAP-UP
- Three Eagles scored in double figures – senior guard Brandon Haraway (19 points, 7-of-8 from the floor), junior center Victor Searls (16 points, 7-of-7 shooting) and Conley (14 points, eight rebounds).
- Ashland finished 13-of-22 from 3-point range, and with a decided 36-17 rebounding advantage.
- Monday night marked the seventh time this season the Eagles have kept an opponent to a field-goal percentage of 36.7 or worse, and the fifth time AU has held a team to 54 points or less in 2022-23.
UP NEXT
Ashland, at 4-1 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, is tied for second place, just a half-game behind first-place Hillsdale. The Eagles jump back into league play on Thursday (Jan. 5) at 7:30 p.m. at home vs. Cedarville (10-3, 3-2).
"Cedarville's a great team. They're well-coached," said Ellenwood. "They're on a roll, too. It will be a great game, great atmosphere. We're putting ourselves in a good position early in the season. Everybody we're going to play is a big game."
