Balanced scoring and strong first-half defense lifted Ashland University's men's basketball team to a 75-69 Senior Day victory over Tiffin on Saturday (Feb. 15) afternoon at the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium.
The Eagles, winners of nine of the last 13 games, move to 14-9 overall and 10-6 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. The Dragons are 6-18, 4-12.
"We needed it," said Ashland head coach
John Ellenwood. "I thought we played better than we did the other night, which is good. There's some stuff we can definitely get better at, but I'm glad to get the victory."
The two teams played to a 5-5 tie through the first media timeout, as graduate guard
Luke Metzger picked up two quick thefts in his second career start. Senior guard
Gbolahan Adio hit a 3-point field goal to put Ashland up 8-5, but a slow offensive beginning for both teams left the score at 9-9 through the game's first nine minutes.
Senior wing
Stefan Stanic put the Eagles on top 17-12 – their largest lead at that point, then after sophomore wing
Cooper Davis completed a rare four-point play, they had another largest advantage at 21-14.
Davis' layup halted the Dragons' 6-0 spurt, and thanks to two of three free throws with 4:12 to go in the half, Ashland led 27-20 – and Davis had 13 points. By halftime, the Eagles were up 29-26 – keeping Tiffin to 32.1 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes.
Early in the second half, junior forward
Maceo Williams began to take over, scoring six points in the first three minutes to lift Ashland to a 37-30 lead. Graduate forward
Javin Etzler's catch-and-shoot trey gave AU another new high lead in the game at 42-34.
As Tiffin started to rally, Adio snuffed it out with a wing triple for a 45-38 lead. A Williams dunk forced the Dragons to stop the game, trailing 47-38. When Etzler made another catch-and-shoot from behind the arc, the Eagles had another game-high lead at 52-40.
Ashland led 57-42, then Tiffin cut that down to seven points at 59-52. The Eagles, however, continued to keep the Dragons at arm's length to finish the victory.
SENIORS COMING UP STRONG…AND THE REST OF THE STORY
- Davis finished with a game-high 25 points, including 10-of-11 from the foul line.
- The Eagles' four uniformed seniors all contributed – Adio (13 points, three rebounds), Etzler (10 points, six rebounds), Stanic (eight points, seven rebounds, two steals) and Metzger (two rebounds, two steals and an assist).
- "They're special players," Ellenwood said. "It's good for them to contribute on the day that it is."
- For Etzler, Saturday was special in that being at AU has been a family affair. Both of his parents, Andy and Krista, played basketball as Eagles, and his sister, Myia, is on the Ashland volleyball team.
- "We took care of business," Etzler said. "It's pretty surreal. I never thought it was going to happen (coming to AU). It was just something when I entered the portal, they were the first school to reach out to me. It felt right. It's really cool."
- Williams' 14 points leaves him with 1,254 at Ashland, alone in 18th place on the program's all-time scoring list.
- Ashland is 39-10 all-time vs. Tiffin.
UP NEXT
Ashland will go back on the road on Thursday (Feb. 20) at 8:45 p.m. at Kentucky Wesleyan.
