The Ashland University men’s basketball team dropped their second straight game with a 74-64 loss at Northwood on Saturday (Jan. 20).

With the loss, the Eagles fell to 14-5 overall while being 7-4 in the GLIAC conference. The Timberwolves improved to 7-11 overall and 4-7 in GLIAC play.

AU kept pace with Northwood to kick off the game before they took an early 10-9 lead with 16:27 left to go in the first half. This would be the only lead the Eagles had for the game as the Timberwolves took the lead 30 seconds later and never looked back.

Northwood began to pour it on the Eagles as they ballooned their lead 33-20 with 5:49 left to go in the first half. Ashland wouldn’t give up, however, as they scored 12 straight points. This allowed AU to go into halftime down 38-34.

Going into the beginning of the second half, senior forward Wendell Davis converted a layup in the paint to bring the Eagles within one of the Timberwolves at 41-40.

AU’s offense would go extremely cold as they went eight minutes without converting on a field goal. Junior guard Ben Haraway would put an end to the cold spell with a layup, but it was too late as Northwood was able to take advantage of the stretch and jump to an insurmountable 53-43 lead.

The Eagles finished the game shooting 46 percent from the floor while also being 31.3 percent from downtown. The Timberwolves finished the game shooting 40.6 percent from the field while being 36.7 percent from deep.

Northwood took advantage of AU on the glass as they outrebounded them 35-33. This allowed them to convert on 12 second chance points.

The Timberwolves were also able to take advantage of the Eagles 11 turnovers as they scored 11 points off of those turnovers.

Northwood got a huge boost from it’s reserves as the Timberwolves bench contributed for 36 points.

Haraway finished the game leading the Eagles with 19 points on 6-for-13 shooting. He also shot 3-for-6 from downtown.

Senior forward Marsalis Hamilton finished the game with 15 points, five rebounds and two assists. Davis also chipped in 14 points, six rebounds and two assists.

Sophomore center Drew Noble nearly finished the game with a double-double, contributing nine points and 10 rebounds.

Despite the loss, the Eagles are still on top of the GLIAC South Division Standings. They are, however, now only one game ahead of the Wayne State Warriors.

Ashland will return home next Saturday (Jan. 27) to host the Tiffin Dragons in conference play. The Dragons are 6-12 overall while being just 2-9 in the GLIAC. Tip off is at 3 p.m.