With a balanced attack of solid inside play and consistent shooting, the Ashland men’s basketball team has won three-of-four, only losing to fourth-ranked Findlay. The men couldn’t take care of Ohio Dominican last Thursday in regulation but got the best of the Panthers, 86-77 in overtime. Two days later, Tiffin came to Ashland and lost 81-69 giving the Eagles a two-game winning streak.

Ohio Dominican

The big men for Ashland University had to put in extra work last Thursday against Ohio Dominican, but anything worth doing is worth doing right.

It took a buzzer-beating three point shot by ODU’s Jake Mochoskay to tie the game at 70-70, but the Eagles dominated down low, thus dominating overtime.

Senior center Kale Richardson was one of four Eagles who scored in double-digits. Richardson and sophomore Evan Yates led AU with 17 points. David Harris and Antoine Childs were the other double-digit scoring contributors for AU.

Harris did his community service early in the contest by dishing out four assists in the first half. The Panthers didn’t attempt a single free throw in the first half but connected on 5-of-9 from three. AU went just 2-for-9 from three but shot a perfect 4-for-4 from the free-throw line.

Childs scored 10 of his season-high 13 points in the first half that ended with the Eagles holding the slim 34-33 lead.

Ashland was able to extend that one point margin to as many as nine with 10:24 to play thanks to an Evan Yates layup. This marked the first time Yates came off the bench this season.

The rest of the second half saw ODU slowly bringing themselves back into the game. A couple of threes and a few high-percentage jump shots later, the game was tied with five minutes of additional time added.

Justin Garris put AU up by one with a free throw shot and Ashland never surrendered the lead.

The Eagles dominated scoring six points in the paint while giving up none. Ashland scored five points off of turnovers without giving up any turnover points. Finally, Ashland also outworked the Panthers scoring six unanswered second chance points.

For the game, both teams shot just under 50 percent from the field but ODU held the three-point advantage by shooting 40 percent (10-for-25) from deep. AU shot only 26.7 percent (4-for-15) from three.

Harris finished with 15 points, a season-high seven assists and four steals in 43 minutes of work.

Tiffin

After last Saturdays game against Tiffin, AU now holds a 23-4 all-time advantage over the Dragons winning by 12 at Tiffin University.

The first half was all Eagles as AU consistently led by seven and as many as 12 with just over a minute left in the first half.

Ashland excelled scoring off of second chance points (12-4) due to nine offensive rebounds. The Ashland bench doubled what the Tiffin bench had to offer (10-5) giving AU the 43-32 lead at halftime.

The game looked like it might turn into a blowout to everyone but the Dragons going into halftime.

Tiffin went on a 10-2 run to start the second half and pulled within two, 44-42 after only three minutes of play.

Evan Yates and Will Evans put AU up by four followed by a three from Richardson answering the Dragon run with one of their own.

The Eagles didn’t stumble down the stretch and the blowout ensued as AU led by as many as 15, finishing off the Dragons, 81-69.

Ashland continued cleaning up the glass outscoring Tiffin 19-10 by way of second chance points. The halftime score was the same margin AU won the rebound battle by, 43-32.

Harris went the distance with fellow guard, Ronnie Steward out with a shoulder injury. Harris tied a season-high scoring 22 points on 8-of-13 from the field including 4-of-5 from three.

Freshman Jordan Berlin hit 3-of-4 three-point shots and leads AU by making 10-of-28 on the season.

After sliding back into his starter position, Yates added 20 points including a game-high 11 rebounds tying his season high. Yates is second for AU in both rebounds 6.4) and points scored (13.1) and has scored at least 20 in four of the last seven games.

The win completed the season sweep of the Tiffin Dragons who have fallen to 6-15, 4-10 GLIAC. Ashland improved to 11-9, 5-8 GLIAC with six games left to play. The next two are home against Grand Valley State today and Ferris State Saturday. Ferris State is on an eight game winning streak and play last place Lake Erie before Saturday’s matchup. Both teams combine to represent the top two spots in the GLIAC North.