On Tuesday (Nov. 26) afternoon at the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium, Ashland University's men's basketball team topped Kent State-Tuscarawas, 82-57, to go into the Thanksgiving break at 3-2.
Kent State-Tuscarawas (1-6) built a 34-26 lead inside of the six-minute mark of the first half, but the Eagles rallied in the form of a 12-0 run which helped them to a 38-36 halftime lead.
The two teams continued to stay close to begin the second half, and the Golden Eagles knotted the game at 43. Another Ashland run came right after that, however – and eight consecutive points put the Eagles on top, 51-43.
Ashland's first double-digit lead came inside of the 11-minute mark of the second half at 58-48, then the Eagles extended that to 20 points at 72-52 inside of the six-minute mark.
Following that Golden Eagle eight-point first-half lead, the Eagles outscored them 56-23 the rest of the way.
"We held them to 57 points," noted Ashland head coach
John Ellenwood. "We did a good job there. It was good to see multiple guys in double figures (scoring)."
FIVE IN DOUBLE-DIGIT SCORING…AND THE REST OF THE STORY
- Five Ashland players ended in double-digit scoring – sophomore wing Cooper Davis (18 points), junior forward Maceo Williams (16 points, 10 rebounds, 7-of-9 from the field), junior point guard Jaron Crews (12 points), senior wing Stefan Stanic (12 points), and graduate forward Javin Etzler (10 points, 5-of-6 from the floor).
- "Cooper got us going right out of the gate," Ellenwood said. "Jaron had a great second half, and Maceo does what he does. I thought Javin had a great game, and I thought Stef was very solid for us, as well."
- Ashland, No. 2 in the nation in field-goal percentage coming in, shot 52.5 percent from the field and made 75 percent from the free-throw line, and kept Tuscarawas to 34.9 percent from the floor and 3-of-18 from behind the 3-point line.
- "If we're going to be efficient like that, we've got to not turn the ball over the way we did today (13)," said Ellenwood. "I just think there is a little bit more to us than what we're showing. We've got to get a little bit grittier, and we need some production from some guys on both ends of the floor."
- The Eagles are 2-0 all-time vs. the Golden Eagles.
UP NEXT
The start of Great Midwest Athletic Conference play on Dec. 5 at 6 p.m. at home vs. Northwood.
"Conference is going to be tough," said Ellenwood. "There's not a bad team in our conference this year. This year, it's definitely going to be a tough conference. We've got to stay healthy and we're going to have to play really gritty to win some games."
