The men’s basketball team is not finishing the season as strongly as they would have liked.

After an impressive win against Grand Valley State, the Eagles fell to Ferris State before dropping the last two games against Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan.

Michigan Tech

 

Ashland led Michigan Tech for 39 minutes and 30 seconds last Thursday but a key run by the Huskies capped by a three pointer gave MTU the 61-60 and eventual 63-60 victory.

Freshman guard Jordan Berlin and forward Will Evans started the Eagles off strong, converting on early threes and giving AU the early advantage.

Ashland held a consistent lead throughout the first half despite being outshot in field goal percentage and three point percentage.

The Huskies outrebounded AU 16-14 but Ashland dominated MTU in the paint, 14-8.

AU took a 28-25 lead into halftime.

An early three by Senior Kale Richardson followed by three more from Berlin put the Eagles up 42-30 early in the second half.

Berlin finished with 12 points shooting 4-of-6 from three. The three by Richardson was his only score of the night.

Ashland was led by Evan Yates, who was a perfect 7-of-7 from the field and 3-for-5 from the line. Yates’ 17 points led the Eagles.

The Eagles shot better across the board in the second half but the Huskies had a late run left in them.

After the three point barrage by Berlin, the Huskies went on a 12-1 run, cutting the lead all the way down to one with over eight minutes to play.

A pair of free throws by MTU tied the game at 54-54 with just less than four minutes left.

David Harris responded with a couple of layups, giving AU the four point advantage with two and a half minutes to go.

Justin Garris was sent to the free-throw line, making one of two and extending the lead to three with just over two minutes left, but it wouldn’t be enough.

A jumper by Ali Haider brought MTU within one. Garris once again went back to the free-throw line, making one of two and giving AU the slim 60-58 lead before MTU buried a three, giving the Huskies their first lead of the game with 32 seconds remaining.

Harris managed to get open with 11 seconds still on the clock but his three point shot rimmed out, leaving AU with the only option of fouling and trying to extend the game. Unfortunately for AU, Haider converted on both free throws, extending the lead to 63-60. Haider scored six of his 16 points in the final four minutes while Mike Hojnacki led the MTU with 17 points and six rebounds.

The Huskies outscored AU 22-10 in the paint in the second half while outscoring AU in points off turnovers, fast break points and second chance points.

The Eagles matched a season low of just seven turnovers in the game but also only forced seven turnovers.

Northern Michigan

 

Starting with this game, AU’s final three regular season games are against the three worst teams in the GLIAC. Northern Michigan (8-16, 3-14 GLIAC) is the worst team in the GLIAC North while the final two games are against Ohio Dominican and Lake Erie, which are both 2-15 in the GLIAC and at the bottom of the GLAIC South.

Despite being the worst team the GLAIC North has to offer, the Wildcats followed the advice of Michigan Tech and sent the Eagles (12-12, 6-11 GLIAC ) away with a 72-68 loss.

NMU managed to stay in the game and not get too far behind before taking the lead in the final minutes and not relinquishing it.

The first half was a back and forth affair featuring five ties and nine lead changes.

The Eagles played very good basketball, not turning the ball over once in the first half while forcing nine turnovers. Ashland did what all good teams do by converting 16 unanswered points off turnovers. Ashland also got solid bench play, outscoring the Wildcats 10-3 in the first half.

AU gained the lead (32-29) at the 7:20 mark off of a three pointer by Richardson and didn’t give it up until the closing minutes of the game.

NMU fell behind by as many as nine with 8:15 to play but stormed all the way back. Excellent free throw shooting and a three by Matthew Craggs at 1:32 tied the game at 68-68 followed by a NMU layup, giving the Huskies the 70-68 lead with 39 seconds remaining. From then on it was missed shots by Ashland and made free throws by NMU.

Richardson led AU in scoring with 15 in 31 minutes of work while Yates scored 14 in 22 minutes of action. Evans and Berlin each had two steals but NMU was too good from the free-throw line (13-of-14).

The Wildcats had four players score in double-digits, grabbed more rebounds (33-27) and dished out more assists (12-10).

Ashland now travels to Ohio Dominican today before Lake Erie wraps up the season on senior day in Kates Gymnasium Saturday. Tipoff for senior day is scheduled for 1 p.m.

The Eagles defeated ODU Feb. 3 in overtime, 86-77 at Kates Gymnasium.

The Lake Erie Storm also fell to Ashland earlier this year.

The Storm fell to the Eagles 68-64 Dec. 11 in Painesville, OH