The Ashland Eagles’ men’s basketball team fell at home on Saturday Feb. 1 to the Thomas More Saints 66-61.
Going into the afternoon, the Eagles held a two-game lead over the Saints in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) standings. Along with the importance of the rankings, Ashland had already defeated the Saints earlier in the season when they picked up the 83-71 road win on Saturday Jan. 11. With this in mind, the Saints came out ready to play.
Thomas More scored the first nine points of the contest, with senior guard Casey George responsible for seven of them. Ashland was struggling to guard around the rim throughout the first half, with the Saints scoring 20 of their 30 points in the paint. On the other side of the ball, the Saints did a terrific job defensively on the Eagles’ star players, which resulted in the Eagles converting just 35 percent of their shots in the first half. For the Saints, senior guard Casey George scored 17 of his career high 28 points in 17 minutes of first half action. Despite the game not going Ashland’s way after 20 minutes of play, they only found themselves down 30-24 at halftime.
The Eagles came out of the locker room with a burst of energy on both sides of the floor to begin the second half, going on a 13-0 run to take a 37-33 advantage. Sophomore guard Aden Gregory knocked down three triples in a row to lead the charge, along with a defensive show from transfer guard Gbolohan Adio. Once the Eagles took the lead, they went back and forth with Thomas More over the final stretch of the contest. The last five minutes saw seven lead changes. Unfortunately for the Eagles, the final lead change went the way of the visiting Saints.
With about one minute and a half remaining in the game, the Saints George drove to the basket with redshirt junior forward Maceo Williams ready to protect the rim for the Eagles. George then kicked the ball out to the Saints sharpshooter Jack McCune, who knocked down a contested three pointer to give the Saints a 60-59 lead. The Eagles then failed to convert on their next four offensive possessions; two missed post shots from Gregory and Williams, and two offensive fouls at the top of the key.
Ashland would fall 66-61 to Thomas More, which dropped them to an 11-8 overall record, with a 7-5 conference record. The Saints moved to a 13-8 mark on the season, and 8-6 against the G-MAC. With a 7-5 GMAC record, the Eagles sit in fifth place with eight games to go in the regular season.
Ashland will look to bounce back on Thursday Feb. 6 when they host the 10-9 Cedarville Yellow Jackets. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. at Kates Gymnasium.
