Coming out of the Christmas/New Year's break, Ashland University's men's basketball team lost 83-78 on Thursday (Jan. 2) night to No. 24-ranked Hillsdale at the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium.
The Eagles are 6-6 overall and 2-3 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, while the Chargers maintain their league lead at 11-2, 5-0.
Down 6-1 early, Ashland responded with eight straight points to take the lead. The Eagles had a 14-8 lead at the game's first media timeout, but by the second media stoppage, the AU advantage was just 16-13.
Inside of the 10-minute mark, the two teams were tied at 20. Hillsdale then regained the lead at 25-24 inside of the 7½-minute mark.
By halftime, despite the Chargers leading by nine points down the stretch of the first half, Ashland trailed by only three points at 38-35. Sophomore wing
Cooper Davis had 18 points in 16 first-half minutes, and the first 20 minutes were very clean (Ashland three turnovers, Hillsdale one).
The Chargers once again had a nine-point lead at 49-40 early in the second half, then went up by double-digits for the first time at 52-42 with 16:19 remaining. Hillsdale later led by 13 points twice, but that's when Ashland started chipping away.
It was a 57-49 AU deficit with 12:10 to play – and that's when both teams were in the bonus for the remainder of the game. That deficit became 59-54 after a layup from junior forward
Maceo Williams, then 59-57 following a 3-point field goal by senior guard
Gbolahan Adio.
Williams' two charity tosses pulled Ashland even at 59-59 with 9:27 left, but the Chargers went on to lead by four at 67-63 following a second-chance triple. When the Eagles called a 30-second timeout at the 5:28 mark, Hillsdale's lead stood at 69-67 – but three straight HC treys put the game out of reach.
…AND THE REST OF THE STORY
- Davis finished with 22 points, while Williams ended with 19 points, nine rebounds, three blocks and two steals. With 1,053 career points, Williams moved into 31st place on AU's all-time scoring list.
- Adio had 12 points off the bench.
- Junior point guard Jaron Crews dished out a season-high eight assists for a second consecutive game.
- Thursday's game was the Eagles' sixth of the season decided by five points or less.
- There were only nine total turnovers on Thursday (five by Hillsdale, four by Ashland), but 34 combined personal fouls.
UP NEXT
Saturday (Jan. 4) at 3 p.m. at Malone (5-7, 1-3).
