Thursday night's men's basketball game at the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium featured the top two scorers in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference – Ashland University junior forward
Maceo Williams and Walsh sophomore wing Ayden Carter.
There was a third scorer, however, who wanted to make his presence known. Eagle sophomore wing
Cooper Davis scored 23 points, including a career-high six 3-point field goals, as AU defeated the Cavaliers, 80-61.
"We needed a home win," said Ashland head coach
John Ellenwood. "The league is good this year. We've got to take care of the ball a little bit. It was a physical game."
Ashland moves to 8-6 overall and 4-3 in the Great Midwest, while Walsh is 5-7, 1-5.
"My teammates did a great job of finding me when I got hot," Davis said. "I was lucky. They were falling tonight. It felt good."
Williams ended with a game-high 24 points on 12-of-13 shooting from the field, and added 14 rebounds, four assists and two steals. He now has 1,099 career points, moving into 26
th place on AU's all-time scoring list.
"He's the best big man in the country, I believe," Davis said. "When he's hot, they have to double him, I'll be open outside and hopefully I cash in most of the time."
Said Ellenwood, "It's funny. All the stuff you work on, and you see something during the game that works, and your guys kind of naturally go to it. I was proud of them for doing that.
"Cooper, he's more confident than anybody that you have. I love that about him. The better thing about him is, he's starting to play defense. And a shooting guard that can play defense is tough to find."
There were four lead changes before the game's first media timeout, where Ashland led 7-6. The Cavaliers moved out to a 13-8 lead, but the back-and-forth continued to the point where a layup from Davis knotted the game for the second time at 15.
Williams gave AU the lead again at 17-15, and a Williams dunk out of the under-8 media stoppage gave the Eagles a 22-19 advantage. Another Williams basket lifted Ashland to a 29-21 lead – finishing off a 12-2 run.
By halftime, Williams had 14 points, made all seven of his shots from the field, grabbed nine rebounds and added two assists and a steal – while the Eagles took a 35-30 lead into the locker room.
Ashland came out of the break by scoring the second half's initial four points to go up by nine, then Davis' corner trey gave the Eagles their first double-digit cushion at 42-32. Back-to-back Davis triples lifted AU to a 52-37 lead – and forced Walsh's hand with a timeout.
Davis' fifth triple of the game gave Ashland a 20-point lead at 71-51, sealing the victory.
HIGH OFFENSIVE EFFICIENCY…AND THE REST OF THE STORY
- The Eagles shot 56.7 percent from the field – 65.5 percent in the second half alone. AU also made 41.7 percent from beyond the arc.
- Sophomore wing Aden Gregory added 11 points off the bench.
- "Aden's getting better all the time," Ellenwood said. "He's just a great player, and he's a better person. He's a great kid to coach, and we're very fortunate to have him."
- Senior wing Stefan Stanic racked up eight points, six rebounds, two assists, three blocks and two steals.
- "Stef did a great job defensively," Ellenwood said. "Ayden is a great player, and Stef is a great defender. We trust him completely on defense."
- The Cavaliers were kept to 35.4 percent from the field and 27.0 percent from downtown. Carter ended with 15 points.
- Ashland is 18-12 all-time vs. Walsh.
UP NEXT
Saturday (Jan. 11) at 3 p.m. at Thomas More (10-4, 5-2) – the first of three straight road contests.
