The men’s basketball team finished its season by losing at Ohio Dominican Thursday and beating Lake Erie at home Saturday. Ohio Dominican tied for last place in the GLIAC along with Lake Erie with a combined record of 6-32 in the conference.

Senior forward Kale Richardson made the most of his final two games by being the leading scorer for the Eagles (39) while pulling down 12 rebounds and earning three steals. Fellow senior, forward Justin Garris, stole the show in the final seconds, making the shot kids everywhere dream about.

ODU

The Eagles started the game off with a barrage of free-throw shots, layups and short jumpers which led to a lead of seven points multiple times in the opening part of the first half. The last seven point lead for AU came off of a jump shot by Richardson at the 10:44 mark, making the score 21-14. From there on ODU outscored the Eagles 23-9 en route to a 37-30 halftime lead.

Aaron Gibbs kept the Panthers ahead by leading all scorers with 13 points off of 5-of-8 shooting from the field.

The Panthers extended their seven point halftime lead to 16 points (54-38) with 13:13 left to play. Facing a blowout, the Eagles pounded the ball inside and worked themselves back into the game. The Eagles outscored ODU by ten points in the paint (26-16) in the second half as well as outscoring the Panthers in fast break points, 11-2.

The bench productivity, or lack thereof, was the determining factor in this one. Ashland’s players coming off the bench only scored one point and it came in the first half. Senior Blake Saunders hit a free throw, marking the only bench point for Ashland. The ODU bench scored 24 points in the contest.

Jordan Berlin split a pair of free throws with 13 seconds remaining, bringing the Eagles to within one, 69-68, but Richardson had to commit the foul, sending Jake Mochoskay to the line for ODU. Mochoskay hit both free throws making the score 71-68, Eagles trailing.

Richardson missed his three-point attempt while Saunders saw his go through the net after time expired.

Evan Yates contributed 18 points and eight boards for Ashland while David Harris dished six assists and earned three steals.

Lake Erie

The shot heard ‘round Ashland belonged to Garris Saturday in Kates Gymnasium. His shot with 5.5 seconds remaining sealed the 64-63 Ashland victory, sent the seniors out with a win and probably fulfilled a childhood dream.

It didn’t look good for the Storm early as the Eagles held Lake Erie to only four points after eight minutes of play. From then on, the Storm barely edged out the Eagles’ big men in the paint, 16-14, scoring three more second chance points (10-7) and outscoring the Ashland bench by two points.

Separately, those stats are nothing to be worried about if you are an Eagles fan but if combined, they proved to be enough to tie the game at 32-32 to start the second half.

Fast forwarding to the eighth tie of the game, Richardson split a pair from the line, evening the score at 61-61 with 22 seconds left to play on Senior Day. With only 15 seconds left to play and the opposing team inbounding the ball, head coach John Ellenwood had to foul. This didn’t work in the previous game against ODU because the shot didn’t drop for AU in regulation.

Lake Erie’s Alex Davis hit both free throws, giving the Storm the two-point advantage with 15 ticks still on the clock. Ashland inbounded the ball to Harris who found Garris off a screen in the corner and the rest is history.

“I wasn’t really thinking about it, I just let it go,” Garris said in an interview after the game.

Garris’ game-winning three gave Ashland the 64-63 lead with only five seconds remaining. The Storm didn’t stand a chance as Saunders blocked a shot, securing the win.

“It’s fun getting after it, bringing energy, and taking pride in not allowing your man to score,” Saunders said post-game.

As for the seniors, it is a game they won’t soon forget.

Saunders ended with six points, Ryan Janer added eight, Garris finished with ten, none bigger than his final three and Richardson finished his impressive career with 16 points.

Garris added four steals, one more than Harris’s three.

The Eagles (13-13, 7-12 GLIAC) turned the ball over 19 times, resulting in 21 points for the Storm. Lake Erie (7-19, 3-16 GLIAC) only had 13 turnovers but Ashland manufactured 22 points off Storm mistakes.

Richardson never missed a single game in his career. Richardson started and played in all 108 games. He sits in fourth place on AU’s all-time points list with 1,668, and second in rebounds with 744.

This is the first season since 2006-07 that the men’s team has finished .500 or better.