It isn't the ideal situation for a basketball team to be behind in the second half of nearly every game – unless that team is the No. 12-ranked Ashland University men's basketball team, apparently.
On Saturday (Dec. 2) afternoon at Walsh, the Eagles improved to 6-0 overall and 2-0 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference following an 82-72 win against the No. 25-ranked Cavaliers (3-1, 1-1). It is Ashland's first 6-0 start to a season since 2019-20, and it is a win in head coach
John Ellenwood's 400
th all-time game guiding the Eagles (249-151).
Ashland's win on Saturday was its fifth so far this season when trailing at some point in the second half. The Eagles out-scored the Cavaliers 44-24 in the final 16:24 after Walsh took a 48-38 lead early in the second half.
Both teams, as expected, traded points early on, and the scoreboard showed a 7-7 tie early. Senior center
Victor Searls scored 10 straight Eagle points to put them ahead 14-13.
Ashland trailed 17-16, but a 12-3 Cavalier spurt gave them a double-digit lead for the first time at 29-19. When fifth-year forward
Javin Etzler made four consecutive free throws on the same trip to the line, the Eagles trailed by just three at 32-29, and by the half, they were down by just a single point at 39-38.
Searls' 10 points came in just seven minutes on the floor due to foul trouble – and fouls were the story in the game's first 20 minutes. The Eagles took 22 free throws, making 19, and there were 25 combined personal fouls in the first half.
Still, for the fourth time in six games, Ashland was behind entering the second half. And when the Cavaliers scored the first nine points in the first four minutes of that second half, the Eagles trailed 48-38.
Down 51-40 following a timeout, Ashland went back to work in attempting to shrink its deficit. When sophomore point guard
Simon Wheeler hit a triple, that capped a 17-4 run, and the Eagles were ahead at 57-55.
The under-eight media timeout saw the two teams tied at 61, and inside of three minutes left in regulation, an old-fashioned 3-point play from Searls put AU back on top at 69-68. Etzler's jumper with 120 seconds left gave Ashland the lead one more time at 71-70.
Junior wing
Stefan Stanic nailed a three to give AU its biggest lead of the game of four points at 74-70. Fifth-year guard
Ethan Conley's trip and subsequent Walsh turnover effectively ended the game.
POST-GAME NUGGETS
- Searls led AU with 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the field, while Wheeler (16 points, 10-of-12 from the free-throw line, four rebounds), sophomore forward Maceo Williams (15 points, 5-of-5 from the field, eight rebounds) and Etzler (13 points) also scored in double figures.
- The Eagles were 29-of-35 from the charity stripe, and in the wins this week against Malone and Walsh, were a combined 51-for-60 (85.0 percent).
- There were 12 lead changes and seven tie scores on Saturday afternoon.
UP NEXT
Ashland will play its next game on Dec. 9 at 3 p.m. at Thomas More.
