Wins vs Walsh and at Hillsdale highlight strong two weeks for Eagles

Two weeks ago, it looked as if the Ashland men’s basketball team was going to have an extremely slim chance at making the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament.

Since then, the Eagles have won three of four to improve their record to 10-12 overall (8-11 in the GLIAC). That puts them just one game out of the eighth and final spot in the GLIAC tournament.

These last three wins for the Eagles have come against strong opponents. AU played at home against Walsh and Malone before going on the road to play Findlay and Hillsdale.

Walsh (13-6, 9-6)

The efforts of Ashland senior Evan Yates and team free throw shooting were the main reasons why Ashland was able to upset Walsh at Kate’s Gymnasium 88-78.

Yates had possibly one of the best games of his decorated career, finishing with a career-high 32 points and hauling in 12 rebounds to lead Ashland. He shot 10 of 17 from the field and 12 of 14 from the free throw line.

As a team, the Eagles made 29 of 35 free throws in the game. They did most of their work at the line in the second half when they made 24 of 28 foul shots.

Despite being outrebounded by the Cavaliers on the game AU improved their impressive home record to 8-3 with the win.

Walsh led the league in scoring and rebounding margin and ranked second in the GLIAC South standings coming into the game.

This marks the second time that the Eagles have upset a team ranked in the top two of the GLIAC South at home. They defeated top-ranked Findlay 61-60 on January 17.

Will Evans and Brook Turson also contributed to the win with 12 points apiece. Kenny Kornowski led the Cavaliers with 21 points and 8 rebounds.

Malone (11-10, 8-9)

Ashland continued its success at home with a convincing 79-62 victory against Malone thanks to a strong shooting performance from the Eagles’ outside shooters.

Sophomore guard Brook Turson was tied for the team high in points with 13. He went 3 of 5 from three-point distance. Guards Cole Krizancic and DaWaun Thomas and forward Will Evans all had two 3-pointers each.

AU went 10 of 19 from behind the arc as a team.

Another big reason for the Eagles’ victory was their ability to contain Malone’s offense by applying good ball pressure and limiting second-chance points by rebounding. Malone shot under 40 percent for the game and were outrebounded by the Eagles 35 to 23.

Evan Yates had another solid outing with 13 points and 11 rebounds, earning GLIAC South Player of the Week honors.

Senior guard David Harris also contributed with 10 points and six assists. The Eagles improved to 9-3 at home with the win.

Christain Graves led the Pioneers with 16 points.

At Findlay (16-6, 13-5)

Ashland travelled to Findlay hoping to win its fifth straight game and steal another victory from its cross-state rivals.

This time, on their home floor, the Oilers were ready for the Eagles and won 69-52.

Findlay got off to a hot start with a 10-0 run to begin the game and made their first six shots.

The Eagles fought back to cut the deficit to just three points with under two minutes to play in the first half.

The Oilers would pull away in the second, thanks to another scoring run of nine straight points in the second half.

Findlay’s Greg Khalig led all scorers with 23 points, 15 of which came in the second half. Brad Piehl also had a huge came for the Oilers inside with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

Yates and Krizancic were the only two Eagles to have sold games offensively. They had 17 points apiece. Ashland players not named Krizanicic were 0 of 8 from three.

The Eagles’ dismal road record dropped to 0-9 after the loss.

At Hillsdale (16-7, 12-7)

Ashland’s woes on the road had to stop sometime this season. They finally did when AU recorded its first road win of the season in convincing fashion at Hillsdale, winning 64-48.

Ashland’s road record is now 1-9 for the season and it was the Eagles’ first win away from Kates gymnasium in over a calendar year.

Ashland trailed 27-21 at halftime and the Chargers were doing a great job defensively against Ashland.

But the Eagles caught fire in the second half and looked as if they couldn’t miss a shot.

They shot 12 of 17 from the field in the second half (70.6 percent) and did not miss a three pointer (5 of 5) to finish the game.

Turson was the man of the game for AU, leading the team with 16 points, all of which came in the second half.

His biggest basket may have came with 5:47 left to play, when he hit a three to put Ashland up 47-44, the team’s first lead of the second half.

He also grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds from his guard position.

Krizancic also had a solid offensive performance with 11 points on 5 of 8 shooting.

Tim Dezelski led the Chargers in scoring with 13 points.

AU has three games remaining in the regular season and all of them are against teams ranked lower than the Eagles in the standings.

They will play their final home game 5:30 p.m. tonight against Ohio Dominican. AU will finish with road trips to Tiffin (1 p.m. Saturday and Lake Erie (1 p.m. March 2).