On Monday (Feb. 6) night at the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium, the Ashland University men's basketball team lost a non-conference game to Wilberforce, 86-85.
The Eagles are 15-8, and the Bulldogs are 2-22.
WHAT HAPPENED
- Ashland trailed 7-2 early, but the Eagles went on a 7-2 spurt to tie the game at 9. Wilberforce led 18-15 at the under-12 media timeout, then extended that lead to 23-17. At the under-8 media stoppage, the Bulldogs still led by six, 29-23.
- By the 6:20 mark of the first half, Wilberforce led 35-26. The Eagles' 6-0 spurt going into the last media timeout of the half pulled them to within three points at 35-32, then, at the break, it was a 43-43 tie.
- In the first 20 minutes, fifth-year forward James Manns scored 15 points on 5-of-5 shooting from the field, and freshman point guard Simon Wheeler had 11 points, five rebounds and four assists. The Bulldogs scored 14 points off nine Eagle turnovers, and AU was 17-for-23 from the free-throw line after 17 Wilberforce fouls.
- The Bulldogs led 46-43 early in the second half, then the Eagles scored the game's next six points to flip the lead inside of the 16-minute mark. The back-and-forth continued, with Wilberforce re-taking the lead at 52-51.
- Ashland's biggest lead to that point was 62-57 inside of the 12-minute mark, but the Bulldogs knotted the game at 68 – the ninth tie of the game to go with nine lead changes.
- Wilberforce took a 73-70 lead, then redshirt freshman forward Maceo Williams took over. He scored six straight points, as AU scored eight in a row, to go up 78-73 with 5½ minutes to play.
- The Bulldogs, however, refused to go away – and went ahead 81-80 inside of three minutes left in regulation. Manns, in his best game as an Eagle, put AU back on top with two charity tosses, 82-81, at the 2:42 mark.
- Trailing 83-82 heading into the final two minutes, Manns scored on a layup to give Ashland the lead one more time. But a Bulldog triple made it an 86-84 lead with 83 ticks to go.
- Down 86-85 with a last chance for a win, the Eagles called timeout with 31.7 seconds remaining. Ashland missed a shot as the shot clock wound down, and with 7.2 seconds to go, the Bulldogs missed the front end of the 1-and-1, but the Eagles couldn't get a final shot off.
THE WRAP-UP
- Ashland, which came into the game 11th in NCAA Division II with a field-goal percentage of 50.2, made 59.5 percent on Monday night. Manns ended with a game-high-tying 26 points on 7-of-8 from the field and 9-of-11 from the foul line, and added seven rebounds and two steals.
- Williams came off the bench for 21 points on 8-of-10 from the field, while junior center Victor Searls, who was eighth in the country in field-goal percentage at 62.8 prior to the game, scored 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting.
- Wheeler finished with 13 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, and over his last six outings, has dished out 49 assists.
- Ashland made 31-of-42 (73.8 percent) from the free-throw line. It is the Eagles' most single-game attempts since Nov. 19, 2014 at home vs. Ohio Christian (52), and the most makes since Dec. 4, 2014 at home vs. Grand Valley State (31 in four overtimes).
- Monday night's game features 16 lead changes and 10 ties.
UP NEXT
Ashland will return to Great Midwest Athletic Conference play on Saturday (Feb. 11) at 3 p.m. at Ohio Dominican. The Eagles are one game out of first place in the league at 11-4, and the Panthers are 7-14, 3-11.
