The Eagles continue to maintain their goals of making history this season as they clinch another victory over the Ohio Dominican Panthers allowing the team to host the first Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament game. This will mark the second time in history the men’s program will host the GLIAC tournament.

“It is another goal of ours and we have accomplished it,” said head coach John Ellenwood. “Our guys are excited that they get to play in front of our home crowd. A couple of years ago, just making the GLIAC tournament was a big deal for us, and it still is, but now we are excited to have someone come to our gym.”

With this victory, the No. 18 ranked Eagles also improved their record to 22-4 overall and 16-4 in the GLIAC. The win also puts the Eagles one game ahead of their rival Findlay, who they went 1-1 with during the conference play this season.

“We had a great finish to the game,” said Ellenwood. “Our guys really buckled down and that was a great road win for us.”

Junior forward Wendell Davis led he team with 24 points along with six rebounds and four assists.

Right behind Davis was sophomore forward Marsalis Hamilton who added 17 points to the board and eight rebounds. Junior Boo Osborne gave the Eagles his own 14 baskets, five rebounds and two steals.

The first half of the game proved to be very close between the Eagles and the Panthers, both teams scoring back to back and not allowing the other team to make a run. There were a total of five ties and eight lead changes in the first half, although it was the Eagles who were at the advantage at halftime, leading 29-28.

By the second half, the Eagles were down within the first five minutes 47-41 and both of AU’s centers, senior Michael Hundley and sophomore Teddy Metzen, had three fouls.

“They were defending a senior center who is really good and got us into some foul trouble,” said Ellenwood. “It is just preventing the guy from catching the ball and when he catches it, the likelihood of him making a move and drawing a foul goes up, so we have to make sure we do a better job of positioning.”

Despite these deficits, the Eagles went on their own 12-0 run to take the lead.

“It was a quality win for us especially at this time of year,” said Ellenwood. “We got their best and that last five minutes was a huge stretch for us when we were tied but were able to gut out a win. We didn’t play our best basketball, but on the road, it just matters coming out up by one.”

The victory gave the men’s basketball program its most single-season wins since the 1990-1991 season.

The Eagles will look forward to their next matchup against the Tiffin Dragons who are 11-6 in the GLIAC and 7-13 overall.

“We always say that the next game up is the biggest game of the year,” said Ellenwood. “Even though they are a good team, losing to Tiffin is a bad loss when it comes to rankings. We have to come out and play great defense and make some shots.” 

The team will tip off on Saturday at 3 p.m.