Ashland University's men's basketball team earned a convincing 90-46 win over Ohio Dominican on Saturday (Feb. 10) afternoon at the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium.
A fourth straight victory puts the Eagles at 16-6 overall and 10-5 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. The Panthers are 4-16, 1-12 after a seventh consecutive loss to AU.
Ashland lost fifth-year guard
Brandon Haraway after three games this season to medical retirement. It has taken the Eagles time to find their identity without him, and it looks as if it now has been found.
"Brandon is a once-in-a-lifetime player," said Ashland head coach
John Ellenwood. "At the time that he was done, he was our leader, he was our best offensive player, and he was our best defensive player."
Senior center
Victor Searls, who himself played his second game coming back from injury on Saturday, finished with 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting to go with eight rebounds.
"It's just been great," Searls said. "Those weeks where I was just going to practice and sitting every day was making me go insane.
"Obviously, with a player as good as him (Haraway), the past three years here, he's been the guy. He's just so good at getting everyone going. I think we're starting to own this team as ours now."
After the Eagles had an 8-6 lead early on, Ashland turned it on to the tune of a 23-4 run which put it on top 31-10 at the under-8 media timeout.
The Eagles went into the locker room leading 48-19 – and the differences on the stat sheet were striking. Ashland shot 62.5 percent from the field, made all four free throws and turned the ball over three times in the first 20 minutes, while the Panthers were 26.9 percent from the field, turned the ball over six times, and were out-rebounded, 23-9.
Searls (12 points, six rebounds, 6-for-6 from the field) and junior guard
Trevell Adams (10 points, 5-for-6 from the field) combined for nearly half of AU's first-half point production.
Ashland's biggest second-half lead was 50 points at 85-35 en route to victory.
POST-GAME NUGGETS
- Five Eagles scored in double figures – Searls, redshirt freshman wing Cooper Davis (14 points), Adams (13 points on 6-of-7 shooting), sophomore forward Maceo Williams (12 points) and fifth-year guard Ethan Conley (11 points).
- Ellenwood lavished praise on Adams, saying, "It's kind of been a struggle for him this year adjusting, but today, it's like I kept praising him. The light switch turned on. He did it today (offensively and defensively), and I'm very proud of him."
- Sophomore point guard Simon Wheeler dished out 11 of Ashland's 26 assists to just eight turnovers on Saturday.
- "It's taken a while to get there, but we've got to continue to do that," Ellenwood said, "and that's getting all five guys bought in to that. Just moving the ball was great."
- The Eagles made 55.9 percent from the field, 39.1 percent from 3-point range and 83.3 percent from the foul line in the victory. AU kept the Panthers to 32.7 percent from the floor and 25.8 percent from beyond the arc.
- Ashland is 35-3 all-time vs. Ohio Dominican.
UP NEXT
Ashland will play another home Great Midwest contest on Thursday (Feb. 15) at 7:30 p.m. vs. Walsh (16-4, 10-4).
"It seems like every year Walsh and us have a big game," Ellenwood noted. "They're a great team. We're going to be playing our best basketball, hopefully. It'll be a fun environment. Hopefully the crowd comes out like they did today."
