Ashland University's men's basketball team stayed in the thick of the gummed-up top of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference standings following an 82-74 win over Kentucky Wesleyan on Saturday (Dec. 30) afternoon at the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium.
The Eagles improve to 9-2 overall and 3-1 in the league – tied with five other teams just one game in the loss column behind first-place Trevecca Nazarene. The Panthers are 8-3, 3-1.
"Every time we play Kentucky Wesleyan, it's a knock-down, drag-out fight," said Ashland head coach
John Ellenwood. "They are very good, well-coached, and they play a great defensive game. It was difficult for us."
Ashland improves to 6-0 at home so far in 2023-24, and has won 27 of the last 33 games at "The Kates."
Production for the Eagles on Saturday afternoon came mostly from its top three players:
- Sophomore point guard Simon Wheeler ended with a game-high 23 points, to go with four rebounds, five assists and three steals.
- Sophomore forward Maceo Williams turned in his second double-double of the season (18 points, 10 rebounds).
- And senior center Victor Searls contributed 17 points, eight rebounds and a pair of blocked shots.
"I thought this morning we had a good walk-through, and that leads into this," Williams said. "We just stayed together as a team, made good shots, made timely shots."
Said Ellenwood, "Simon had a big game for us, and our bigs were outstanding. I've thought (junior wing)
Stefan Stanic has been unbelievable this year. Sometimes, it doesn't show up in the stat sheet, but he's been outstanding, and I'm very proud of him."
The early part of the game was a feeling-out process, and the two teams were tied at 7 at the first media timeout. The Panthers led 20-13 for their biggest advantage to that point, but the Eagles kept chipping away, and by the inside-4:00 media stoppage, they were trailing by a single point at 26-25.
When halftime rolled around, Ashland had pulled ahead at 34-31 – thanks in large part to a defensive effort which kept KWC to 35.5 percent from the field. The Eagles ended the first half on a 16-5 run.
Ashland continued to lead to start the second half, but in the continuing back-and-forth action, the advantage was five at 48-43 with 14:24 left in regulation. Halfway through the second half, the Eagle lead was 54-50, then it was 66-56 and their biggest lead of the game with 6:07 to play.
The Panthers were kept at arm's length for the remainder of the game.
POST-GAME NUGGETS
- Junior guard Trevell Adams chipped in with 10 points.
- "Trevell is starting to come along," Ellenwood noted. "You can see it. He's starting to gel with his teammates. He's such a great player."
- Ashland made 52.6 percent from the field, marking the fifth consecutive game the Eagles have made that high of a percentage. The Eagles also were 42.9 percent (6-of-14) from 3-point range – the fourth consecutive game they have made 41.7 percent or better from beyond the arc.
UP NEXT
On the road for another key conference contest on Thursday (Jan. 4) at 8:30 p.m. Eastern/7:30 p.m. Central at Trevecca Nazarene.
