After receiving votes in last week’s Division II National Association of Basketball Coaches, the Eagles had their first road test of the season at the 32nd Annual Gary Miller Classic at Gannon University. 

Ashland beat both Alderson Broadus and Gannon last season, so the team went in expecting both opposing teams to have a little extra motivation.

The Battlers of Alderson Broadus proved them right, putting the Eagles in a position that many teams may find difficult to come back from. 

The Battlers’ had a 12-0 run, putting them up by 16 points and bringing the Eagles down 22-6 with a little under twelve minutes to go in the first half. 

“We were getting the shots that we wanted, but we were just not making them,” said junior Boo Osborne.  “We were shooting too much from the outside and when you are on the road, you have to grind for your buckets, and you aren’t going to be able to make every shot you shoot without attacking more.”

Despite the score, the team was able to rally, turning around and making their own 18-2 run tying the score at 24.

“They jumped on top of us right away,” said junior forward Wendell Davis. “After that, we got a wake up call.”

In the end, the Eagles were able to come back to win the game versus the Battlers 70-62. This made their recor 4-0 and dropped Alderson Broaddus’ record to 2-2. 

The second half never saw AU trail again. They were able to score 25 of their 70 points off of the Battler’s 19 urnovers

Allowing the team to redeem themselves in the latter half of the game was the performance of Davis. Tallying his second double-double of the season and the 12th for his career, Davis had 31 points, 11 rebounds and five assists for the game. 

Davis made his total of 31 points, the second highest in his career, shooting 10-of-16 from the field and 11-of-13 at the free-throw line.

Of course, Davis could not have such a successful game without second hand man, Boo Osborne.  

“Individually, I thought played well, but I also had moments when I did not play as well, and Boo was there to pick me up from that,” said Davis. “We are good at feeding off each other.”

Osborne followed Davis scoring 15 points and was six for seven at the free-throw line. 

Along with Osborne was sophomore Marsalis Hamilton who added ten points of his own to the board for the Eagles. 

In an attempt to keep their undefeated record, the Eagles faced the tournament host, Gannon the next day.

The Golden Knights had an early 11-10 lead, although the Eagles never fell back after going on a 13-2 run in the first half. After the run, the team completed the task of remaining undefeated easily, defeating the Golden Knights 75-59. 

Once again, it was Davis who added the most points to the board for the Eagles, tallying 22 points, five rebounds and three assists for the day. 

Scoring a total of 52 points for the weekend, Davis earned the Most Outstanding Player for the tournament and earned his second GLIAC South Division player of the week award.

Davis was not the only athlete from AU to receive honors. Freshman guard Nick Bapst earned a spot on the all-tournament team coming off the bench to score his career high for AU, 18 points in only 22 minutes.

“We had players step up,” said Osborne. “Nick had a big game against Gannon. The more we get our bench involved the better we will be. A lot of teams may think our starting five is our whole team, but the more newcomers that add on to the points and the defense, the more complete we will be.”

Hamilton also found success, adding 13 points, and matching Davis’ five rebounds and three assists for the game.

“Overall the weekend was good,” said Davis. “It was good to get two solid wins. Two wins against solid teams that were not at home.”

The Eagles will face the strong programs of Grand Valley State University and Ferris State University next. 

Last season, the Eagles defeated the Lakers in quadruple overtime but fell to Ferris, who won the conference last season.

“We are starting to prepare today,” Said Osborne. “Grand Valley is very physical and they were going to come out hard. We know they are not going to come out lite. Ferris State is the only team that swept us last season and they knocked us out of the tournament.”

Both teams are returning numerous players and also both possess undefeated records.

“The preparation for this weekend is going more than the normal because, one we are playing the north who are always very good, and two, these teams are at the top of their league so to beat them is going to be tremendous,” said Davis. “We are a complete team. Down to the last man to the top man, everyone contributes.”

The 5-0 Eagles hope to maintain their record as they compete in their first conference match at GVSU on Dec. 3 and Ferris Dec. 5.