Playing on the road for the first time in three weeks, Ashland University's men's basketball team earned an 87-75 win at Lake Erie on Saturday (Feb. 3) afternoon.
The Eagles gained win No. 15 on the 2023-24 season, improving to 15-6 overall and 9-5 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. The Storm is 6-15, 4-9.
Ashland's win on Saturday was its 13
th in a row in the series.
Sophomore point guard
Simon Wheeler scored a career-high-tying 39 points on 12-of-17 from the field and 14-of-19 from the free-throw line. He added three rebounds, four assists and three steals in the victory. It was Wheeler's third game in 2023-24 with at least 33 points.
Neither team had a lead bigger than four points until redshirt freshman wing
Cooper Davis hit his third 3-point field goal of the first half to put Ashland ahead at 27-21. The Eagle first-half lead was as large as 20 at 47-27, and at halftime, AU had a 52-35 advantage.
Wheeler came out of the gates shooting, scoring 21 points while adding three rebounds, three assists and two steals in playing 19 of the 20 first-half minutes. Davis added 10 points in seven minutes off the bench.
In the second half, the Eagles continued to sport a 17-point lead at 60-43 before the Storm nailed three consecutive triples to cut their deficit to eight. Fifth-year guard
Ethan Conley stopped the Lake Erie run with an old-fashioned 3-point play to put AU back ahead by double figures, then the Eagles kept the Storm at arm's length the rest of the way.
POST-GAME NUGGETS
- Joining Wheeler in double-digit scoring in the win were senior center Victor Searls, scoring 15 points in 19 minutes off the bench in his return from injury, and Davis, who added 10.
- Ashland hit 54.7 percent from the field and 78.1 percent from the free-throw line (25-of-32) in the victory, and kept Lake Erie to 34.6 percent from the field – despite the Storm making 15 triples.
UP NEXT
The Eagle men will have some time off before their next game, Feb. 10 at 3 p.m. vs. Ohio Dominican at the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium.
