Forwards
Jason Moore and
Maceo Williams put on a show for the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium crowd on Thursday (Jan. 29) night, as the Ashland University men's basketball team topped Malone, 75-63.
The Eagles remain in their spot in second place in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference standings, and stay two games out of first place at 14-6 overall and 8-4 in the league. Ashland has won seven of its last nine contests.
Malone is 12-8, 5-7.
Moore, a sophomore, led all scorers on Thursday with 21 points, recorded his first collegiate double-double, grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds and made a career-high 10 free throws.
Williams, a senior, ended with 17 points and eight boards, was 6-of-7 from the field, and shot a career-best 4-of-4 from 3-point range.
"It's nice. Sometimes it's our bigs, sometimes it's our 3-point shooting," said Ashland head coach
John Ellenwood. "We shot good from three tonight, which I was happy about. Shot a lot of free throws, which was good. It's us attacking the rim.
"Maceo and Jason did a great job. They were getting doubled, as well. I'm just happy we got that win, and now it's on to the next one."
The Eagles scored the first seven points on Thursday night, and by the second media timeout, Ashland had extended that early advantage to 20-8.
AU's top first-half lead was 15 points a couple times, and by halftime, it was 38-25. Moore (14 points, five rebounds, two steals) and Williams (13 points, four rebounds, two assists) accounted for 27 of those points in the first 20 minutes.
Ashland extended its lead to 18 points at 45-27 early in the second half, in part to the first collegiate triple by Moore – on his first collegiate 3-point attempt. Malone pulled to within six points late, but could get no closer.
IN ADDITION TO THE BIGS…
- Junior wing Cooper Davis joined the Eagle double-digit scorers with 17 points on 10-of-12 from the foul line – tying his career high at the charity stripe.
- Williams now has 1,736 career points, 10 away from tying Bill Higgins (1,746) for fourth place on the program's all-time scoring list. With 776 career rebounds, passing Wendell Davis into fourth place on that list.
- Ashland made 28 free throws in the victory, its most in a single game since 29 at Walsh on Dec. 2, 2023.
COMING UP
A Great Midwest road tilt on Saturday (Jan. 31) at 3 p.m. at Northwood (13-7, 7-5).
"We put ourselves into contention going into February," Ellenwood said, "and that's what our goal is going into every February, is just give yourself a special month, and hopefully we'll have that."
