NORTH CANTON – In the third meeting of the season between the two teams, Ashland University's men's basketball team lost late to Lake Erie, 89-88, on Friday (March 6) night in a 2026 Great Midwest Athletic Conference Tournament semifinal at Walsh.
The Eagles are 20-10, and will await the 2026 NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament selection show on NCAA.com at 11 p.m. on Sunday (March 8). The Storm advance to Saturday's (March 7) title game at 23-7.
Friday night's contest featured a combined total of 177 points, 63 personal fouls and 82 free throw attempts.
The teams were tied at 9-9 at the game's first media timeout, then Ashland had its first double-digit lead at 24-14 with 9:45 left until the break when junior wing
Destin Logan hit a 3-point field goal.
A 7-2 spurt allowed Lake Erie to cut into its deficit by half at the under-8 media stoppage, but the Eagles were able to keep the Storm at arm's length – until the very end of the half.
The two teams went into the locker room with Ashland leading 46-41 thanks to a buzzer-beating triple from junior wing
Cooper Davis. The Eagles made 60 percent from the field in the game's first 20 minutes – despite the herky-jerky nature of the half (27 combined fouls).
Davis began the second half how he ended the first, giving AU an eight-point lead right away. He scored the Eagles' first 11 points of the second half to put them up 57-44.
Continuing the first-half theme, Ashland shot 1-on-1 at the foul line 3:21 into the second half. But it was Lake Erie who was coming back, instead of the Eagles extending their lead – as a 60-46 AU gap turned into a 60-54 advantage.
With 9:21 to go, the Eagles led 73-62 – as the fouls and free-throw attempts continued to pile up on both sides. Six straight Storm points, however, cut their deficit to five.
Coming out of the under-8 media, Lake Erie trailed by four at 75-71, then it was a two-point deficit at 75-73 with seven minutes remaining.
The two-time Great Midwest Player of the Year, senior forward
Maceo Williams, made a layup to stem the tide. But the Storm worked it to a one-point game at 77-76 – before another Williams bucket.
Then, with exactly five minutes left, Lake Erie knotted the score at 79-all. But again, Williams made a bucket when the Eagles needed him to.
The Storm's three consecutive baskets gave them an 85-81 lead, then Williams' old-fashioned 3-point play left AU trailing by a point. Lake Erie countered with a layup, and Williams countered with one of his own.
Ashland trailed 87-86 with 60 seconds to go, then 88-86 with 41.3 ticks on the clock. Williams' tying layup with 18.2 seconds to play resulted in the seventh tie of the night, but, after the 63
rd foul of the night, the Storm made 1-of-2 at the line for the eventual winning point.
WRAPPING IT UP
- Williams scored a game-high 29 points, becoming the third player in program history to post at least 1,900 as an Eagle (1,928). He added seven rebounds.
- Davis finished with 19 points and six boards, and redshirt freshman point guard Jordan Edwards collected 15 points and a career-high 11 rebounds.
- Ashland shot 51.8 percent from the field, and kept Lake Erie to two triples – after the Storm hit 14 each in the previous two meetings.
