It was a typical day at the office for Ashland University's men's basketball team, as another close Great Midwest Athletic Conference game went the Eagles' way, 61-56, against Northwood on Thursday (Dec. 5) night at the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium.
 
The Eagles improve to 4-2 overall and 1-0 in the conference following their fourth straight victory over the Timberwolves (3-4, 0-1), and ninth win in the last 11 meetings.
 
"Just physical. A physical game," said Ashland head coach John Ellenwood, who is 100 games above .500 guiding the Eagles (264-164). "They played physical, we matched it. Every team (in the conference) is going to be good this year. We've got to do a better job in some areas that we'll address, but the toughness thing was an area that we had tonight."
 
Dating back to last season, three of the last four conference games AU has played in have been decided by five points or less. In all of 2023-24, the Eagles were 5-2 in league games decided by five points or less.
 
Northwood scored the game's first seven points, then Ashland turned the tables by scoring the next six – all by graduate forward Javin Etzler. A layup by senior guard Gbolohan Adio gave the Eagles their first lead at 14-13, then the Timberwolves turned the ball over to trigger the game's first media timeout.
 
The two teams went back and forth as the first half progressed, and back-to-back Adio buckets put AU back on top at 22-20 with eight minutes left before the break. Consecutive makes by junior forward Maceo Williams gave Ashland its biggest lead to that point at 26-20.
 
By halftime, junior point guard Jaron Crews had made back-to-back 3-pointers – and the Eagles had a 37-32 advantage. Each team made half of its shots from the field in the game's first 20 minutes, but the difference was 10 Northwood turnovers to Ashland's three.
 
The Eagle lead was 40-32 early in the second half, and, as is the case in the Great Midwest, it didn't last – Northwood whittled its deficit down to 44-43 as the halfway mark of the half approached.
 
Crews' steal-and-score kept the Timberwolves from taking the lead, but with 7:16 left in regulation, a Northwood triple knotted the score at 48.
 
A Williams contested layup gave Ashland the lead once again, and that basket began a 7-0 spurt which led to a Northwood timeout. The score was 55-51 in the Eagles' favor from just inside of four minutes to go until just inside of a minute, when a 'Wolves triple made it a one-point game.
 
Williams bulled his way to a layup with 35 seconds to go to make it a three-point contest, then grabbed a rebound which led, after a lot of fouling, another Williams carom after a missed free throw. The best shooter from the field in all of NCAA so far in 2024-25 made both charity tosses to seal the victory.
 
"It feels good when a team can rely on you with the ball in your hands," Williams said. "It's just a great feeling."
 
Said Ellenwood, "We needed our guy tonight. We missed a lot of shots that we should make. I think our guys did a great job, and I'm proud of them on the defensive end."
 
ANOTHER BIG WILLIAMS NIGHT…AND THE REST OF THE STORY

• Williams ended with 22 points and nine rebounds, making 9-of-14 from the field and 4-of-5 from the free-throw line.
• "It was a hard-fought win. I'm proud of my team," said Williams. "Northwood got a lot better from the past couple years. They put up a good fight."
• Crews added 14 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals.
• Ashland's defensive effort, which kept Northwood to 36.2 percent from the field, was guided along by senior wing Stefan Stanic (seven rebounds, two thunderous blocks), Adio sophomore wing Cooper Davis.
• "He's a long player," Ellenwood said of Stanic. "He's a phenomenal defender. It's just fun to watch him. GB did a great job getting to the bucket, too. I thought Cooper, it wasn't his best offensive night, and he knows that, but defensively, he did a great job." 

UP NEXT
Saturday (Dec. 7) at 3 p.m. at Tiffin (2-5, 0-0).