Leading wire-to-wire, Ashland University's men's basketball team made it five wins in the last six games, 80-65, over Cedarville on Saturday (Jan. 17) afternoon at the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium.
The Eagles were a half-game out of first place in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference once the game ended, improving to 12-5 overall and 6-3 in the league. The Yellow Jackets are 8-8, 3-5.
"I'm not worried about where we are in the standings," said Ashland head coach
John Ellenwood. "I'm not worried about records. I'm worried about every possession right now, and our focus on every possession, trying to get us a little bit better."
Said sophomore forward
Jason Moore, who ended the afternoon with 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting, to go with eight rebounds, two assists, two blocks and three steals, "When we play together, nobody can really stop us. We've got so many weapons and so many threats on the floor.
"We're really hopeful for this next stretch of games. We've just got to stay level-headed and do what we do best."
Ashland scored the first six points of the afternoon, then the Eagles led 18-12 after making each of their eight shots from the field.
Cedarville worked the score to a 19-all tie, but the Eagles responded by scoring the next 13 points. By halftime, Ashland's lead remained at 13 points (43-30) – thanks in large part to shooting 64.0 percent from the field and making 4-of-5 from the 3-point arc.
The Eagles kept extending their lead in the second half, by as many as 26 points at 78-52, en route to victory.
MACEO KEEPS CLIMBING
- With a game-high 18 points, senior forward Maceo Williams now has 1,680 for his career – as he moved into fifth place on AU's all-time list. His eight rebounds on Saturday give him 760 career, nine behind Wendell Davis for fourth on that Eagle list.
- Six Eagles finished in double-figure scoring – Williams, junior wing Cooper Davis (14 points), freshman guard Jason Henlon (13), Moore, redshirt freshman point guard Jordan Edwards (11), and redshirt freshman guard Max Dawson (10).
- "I've got to give a lot of thanks to my coaches and my teammates for just upping my confidence level, exceeding that ceiling for me," said Moore.
- Henlon made 6-of-6 from the field en route to an early career high in points, and added four steals.
- "It's a great game for a freshman," said Ellenwood. "Great stat line. The thing you don't see is he does a great job as a freshman defensively on the other team's guards. This week, we won both of those games, and I think this week, we won both of those games, and a lot of it had to do with his defensive presence."
- Ashland shot 60.4 percent from the field and hit half of its 10 triple attempts.
- "Our guys executed fairly well," Ellenwood said.
COMING UP
Another home Great Midwest game on Thursday (Jan. 22) at 7:30 p.m. vs. Lake Erie.
