In a 2024 Great Midwest Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinal at Cedarville on Tuesday (March 5) night, Ashland University's men's basketball team lost to the Yellow Jackets, 74-64.
The Eagles' 2023-24 season ends at 17-11, and Cedarville moves on in the conference tourney at 20-11.
A tightly-contested first half saw Ashland with a 22-17 lead inside of the 11-minute mark, and a 34-29 advantage inside of four minutes left until the break. By halftime, the Eagles led 39-33, and shot 56.7 percent from the field to the Yellow Jackets' 36.4.
Junior wing
Stefan Stanic's 3-pointer put AU ahead 39-35 early in the second half, but Cedarville responded with a 11-2 spurt to take the lead back at 46-41. After that, the Yellow Jackets continued to keep the Eagles at arm's length – and with less than eight minutes to play, neither team had a lead larger than five points, and Cedarville led, 59-54.
The Yellow Jackets, however, hit a trey out of the under-12 media timeout to give them their largest lead at 62-56. Another triple lifted Cedarville to a seven-point advantage at 65-58, and another trey made it a 10-point Jackets advantage.
Ashland got no closer than eight points the rest of the way.
POST-GAME NUGGETS
- Sophomore point guard Simon Wheeler led AU with 21 points to go with seven assists and five rebounds.
- Senior center Victor Searls added 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting, 11 rebounds and four assists, while sophomore forward Maceo Williams followed with 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting and six boards.
- Ashland finished the game shooting 50.9 percent from the field – the third straight contest the Eagles hit more than half their shots, and they did so in 17 of 28 games this season.
