On Thursday (Jan. 26) night in Canton, Ohio, Ashland University's men's basketball team surrendered a 25-2 second-half run to Malone, and the Eagles lost to the Pioneers, 80-78.
Ashland is 12-7 overall and 8-4 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, while Malone is 12-6, 7-5.
WHAT HAPPENED
- Ashland led 11-10 before going on a 7-0 spurt to extend the advantage to eight points. The Eagles continued to keep the Pioneers at arm's length in the first half, leading 29-23 at the under-eight media timeout, then six straight points out of the timeout put AU ahead by a dozen.
- At the break, the Eagles led 44-31 – and turned in one of the best passing halves of the season. Ashland dished out 14 assists on 17 made baskets, and that resulted in a 53.1 field-goal percentage in the first 20 minutes.
- Malone got its deficit to single digits at 52-43 inside of the 16-minute mark of the second half, but a layup from freshman point guard Simon Wheeler outside of the 15-minute mark not only got the Ashland lead back up to double digits, but gave him a double-double at 10 points and 10 assists.
- Leading 56-47, the Eagles ran off six points in a row to lift them to a 15-point lead. Malone, however, scored six in a row itself to cut the deficit back to nine points, forcing an AU stoppage.
- Ashland was clinging to a 64-62 lead at the final media timeout of the game, as the Pioneer run at that point was 15-2. Malone came out of that timeout and knotted the score at 64, then took a 72-64 lead, making the run 25-2.
THE WRAP-UP
- Junior center Victor Searls was 8-for-8 from the field and ended Thursday night with a team-high 16 points. In the last three games, Searls has gone 23-for-29 (79.3 percent) from the floor.
- Senior guard Ethan Conley scored 14 points, redshirt freshman forward Maceo Williams added 11 points off the bench, and Wheeler finished with 10 points, 12 assists and five rebounds. It is Wheeler's third game this season with at least a dozen helpers.
- Ashland shot 54.1 percent from the field and had 24 assists – the team's third-highest total of 2022-23.
- Malone's Justin Miller finished with a game-high 32 points, 22 in the second half.
UP NEXT
Ashland's men will return to the Sherill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium on Saturday (Jan. 28) at 1 p.m. against Tiffin (8-10, 6-5).
