This past week the Ashland University men’s basketball team defeated No. 21 Wayne State 57-56 in a nail-biter Thursday but lost to No. 5 Findlay 70-58 Saturday. The Eagles owe a lot to its seniors for the one-point victory over the Warriors but little could be done against the top-ranked team in the GLIAC.

 

Wayne State

The first half of last Thursday’s game against the Warriors of Wayne State (14-4, 10-2 GLIAC) was relatively uneventful. The Eagles shot 47.7 percent from the field and 4-of-9 from behind the arc. Neither team could gain a lead of more than five points in the first 20 minutes of play.

Senior Kale Richardson paced AU with 14 points in 15 minutes of work. Richardson put in some extra time in the opening half due to foul trouble to Ashland’s other big man, Evan Yates. Ashland held the Warriors to 35.5 percent from the field, 27 percent from three and 50 percent from the free-throw line. Going into the half, AU trailed by two, 26-24.

The most exciting half of Ashland’s men’s basketball season occurred in the second half of the contest. Spotting the Warriors two points and trailing by as many as 14 with nine minutes to play set the scene for a remarkable ending.

When the going gets tough, Ashland, like most teams, turns to their seniors, and Thursday, the Eagle seniors rose to the occasion.

A three by senior Blake Saunders with four and a half minutes remaining brought the Eagles within nine and started the spark that Richardson lit on fire. The two combined to score 13 points, grab six rebounds (three offensive) and forced three steals in the final five minutes.

“I believe in second semester seniors,” Head Coach John Ellenwood said. “Blake hasn’t had an easy road and he came here knowing he would be playing behind one of the best scorers in school history, Kale.”

The duo outworked everyone on the floor in the final minutes and earned the win for AU. With three minutes left to play and trailing by only three, Ellenwood turned to defense and converted on forced turnovers. Saunders, Richardson and Jordan Berlin combined for four steals to finish off the game.

After Richardson’s steal with 20 seconds to play and a quick timeout, Ashland had 30 seconds to come up with a game-winning bucket. Trailing by one point, 56-55, AU turned to sophomore Ronnie Steward who drove the lane with eleven seconds to play and scored the layup, putting the Eagles ahead by one, 57-56.

Wayne State managed to get off two shots before Richardson corralled the final rebound with one second left, ending the game.

“This is just what we needed,” Richardson said after the game. “We haven’t won much since I’ve been here. I just want us to go out with a bang.”

Richardson finished with a team-high 24 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field. Richardson also led the Eagles with 10 rebounds in the contest.

Saunders was a perfect 3-for-3 from the field including three steals.

Unfortunately for Ashland, the win didn’t carry into Saturday’s game against Findlay.

Findlay

The Findlay Oilers (17-1, 10-1 GLIAC) came to Ashland Saturday and found themselves trailing the Eagles (9-9, 3-8 GLIAC) by seven points halfway through the first half. A series of short jumpers and layups by the Oilers turned things around, and then a barrage of threes just before the half gave Findlay a nine-point advantage going into halftime.

AU was trailing 30-21despite the fact that Findlay didn’t go to the free-throw stripe once in the first half. The Oilers, however, scored more points off turnovers and earned more fast break points.

In the second half, AU fell behind by as many as 20 with just over seven minutes to play and could only get the deficit down to nine with 1:15 to play. Ashland got three more points off turnovers than the Oilers, but second chance points (9-2) hurt AU.

Despite having three players score in double figures, AU had a hard time putting the ball through the net. Ashland shot 25 percent from three land and only 47.6 percent from the charity stripe.

Berlin put together a good game, scoring ten points, dishing out five assists and forcing two steals in 36 minutes of action. Richardson also added ten points in 31 minutes of floor time. Ronnie Steward came off the bench to lead the Eagles with 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting and four steals.

Kyle Caiola had a game-high 18 points off of 8-of-10 shooting from the field for Findlay. Nathan Hyde and Brad Piehl kept AU off the glass as they combined for 19 rebounds.

Up next for AU is Ohio Dominican. ODU is currently in last place in the GLIAC and riding a four-game losing streak. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Kates Gymnasium.