For the second time in three days, Ashland University's men's basketball team closed out a game when the opposition was making a late charge.
On Saturday (Feb. 4) afternoon, it was a 79-74 win over Lake Erie at the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium for the Eagles' third win a row and 13
th in the last 16 contests.
Ashland is 15-7 overall and 11-4 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference – and just one game behind first-place Hillsdale and Walsh. The Storm is 12-9, 9-6.
"Our guys are very coachable, they are great culture guys, they take the criticism the right way," said Ashland head coach
John Ellenwood. "They help each other, and that is something that helps you get further down the line in terms of young teams and getting ahead."
WHAT HAPPENED
- Both teams were feeling each other out in the early going, and in the first 4:35 of the game, each team scored four points. Trailing 9-7, Ashland scored the next 11 points – and was in the bonus with 11 minutes left until halftime.
- The Eagles took their first double-digit lead at 21-11, but the Storm worked their deficit down to 24-20 at the last media timeout of the first half. At the break, Ashland's advantage was 33-28, as freshman point guard Derrick James posted 11 points and four rebounds in 10 minutes off the bench.
- Each team made a third of its shots from the floor in the first 20 minutes.
- Ashland started the second half outscoring Lake Erie 18-10 in the first five minutes, extending its lead to a game-high 13 points at 51-38. The Storm then scored the next six points to cut the deficit to seven points (51-44), and did it again at 53-47.
- Lake Erie continued to attempt to chip away, and out of the under-eight media timeout, the Storm was down 55-50. Freshman point guard Simon Wheeler's two charity tosses gave Ashland a 65-54 lead, but the Storm didn't go away, scoring seven points in a row to make it four-point separation.
- Senior point guard Brandon Haraway, who made all 21 of his free-throw attempts in the previous two games, kept making charity tosses and driving layups late, but Lake Erie continued to battle. The Storm was trailing 70-69 when they called a timeout with 2:03 left in regulation.
- Haraway's step-back deep jumper put AU back ahead by three at 72-69 with 1:37 left, then the Eagles stopped the game for a regroup. Haraway's steal and breakaway dunk made it 74-69, then his two free throws made tosses put the score at 76-71.
- Leading 76-72 inside of a minute, Ashland received 1-of-2 freebies from fifth-year forward James Manns for a five-point lead, then Lake Erie made two from the line to make it a three-point deficit again. Manns made two more for a five-point lead with 19.6 seconds left, and the Eagles held on from there.
THE WRAP-UP
- Haraway scored 25 points on 6-of-10 from the field and 12-of-16 from the free-throw line. Over the last three games, Haraway has posted 65 points, and hit 33-of-37 from the charity stripe.
- Said Haraway, "It's fun, to be honest. To be winning with this team, we've put in so much work during the games. When we pull out that win, there's no better feeling than that."
- "Brandon is outstanding," Ellenwood said.
- Manns (14 points), senior guard Ethan Conley (13 points) and James (13 points) rounded out four Eagles in double-digit scoring.
- "Doogie has been great all year in his role off the bench," Ellenwood said of James. "He's had two great games against Lake Erie, and he's come along at the exact right time for us. And I'm very proud of him."
- Said James, "They're a real physical team. We just had to out-physical them in this game. We've got to keep going."
- Wheeler dished out eight assists, giving him 41 in the last five games.
- The Eagles made 25-of-33 (75.8 percent) from the foul line and 8-of-17 (47.1 percent) from behind the arc on Saturday.
- Ashland is 30-3 all-time against Lake Erie.
UP NEXT
The Eagles will finish off three games in five days on Monday (Feb. 6) at 6 p.m. at home against Wilberforce (1-22).
