ASHLAND – The Ashland University men’s basketball team went into Thursday’s game against Tiffin University needing a win to have any chance of hosting a first round Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament game.
The Eagles did their part with a 78-67 win over Tiffin but still will have to travel to start the GLIAC Tournament next week because other teams ahead of them won Thursday night.
“We’re very fortunate to be where we’re at,” coach John Ellenwood said. “Tonight was a good game. The second half was better. Our first half was not very focused. We’ve got to do a better job of being focused and moving the ball.”
Tiffin (11-17, 6-14) opened the game with an 11-2 run, including back-to-back 3-pointers by Juwan Johnson. The Eagles (17-9, 12-8) trailed by as much as 14 in the first half and were behind 31-21 with 4:36 left in the half when a technical foul was called on the Tiffin University bench after a foul was called on Tiffin’s Khaleal McCormick. Adrian Cook knocked down both technical foul shots and Marsalis Hamilton hit both ends of a one-and-one to cut the lead to 7. That four-point possession was part of a 16-4 run that left Ashland behind by 2, 35-33, at the half.
“I think that helped because it calmed us down. It got us in a rhythm and that got us going into halftime,” Ellenwood said.
A 15-0 run by Ashland early in the second half put the Eagles ahead for good.
“We just weren’t playing hard enough in the first half,” Cook said. “They came out and kind of punched us in the mouth a little bit. But we didn’t get phased. We just came out and played our game, especially in the second half.”
Cook, a senior, led the Eagles with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting.
“He’s a winner,” Ellenwood said of Cook. “He’s one of the toughest kids I’ve ever coached. He did a great job, especially in the second half tonight, of just kind of taking over. He’s very tough to guard and he’s a special player. I’m going to miss him for sure.”
Fellow senior guard Boo Osborne scored seven points and added eight rebounds, two assists and three blocked shots, and tied Jack Purtell for 23rd place on Ashland’s all-time scoring list with 1,060 career points.
“Boo Osborne is the heart and soul of this team,” said Ellenwood. “All around, he does a great job on both ends of the floor.”
Senior Torin Wetzel added 9 points off the bench on 3-of-5 shooting from behind the arc.
“Torin has been a great teammate to these guys, and he’s having a great senior year. He’s one of the top 3-point shooters in the conference,” Ellenwood said. “And Mike Cain, just for him to be on this team. Before we went out tonight, he was a guy that couldn’t leave the locker room because he loves this team so much.”
Hamilton scored 14 points, grabbed 8 boards and dished 3 assists. Drew Noble scored 10 points and grabbed 7 boards off the bench.
Ashland had 17 assists, 13 of those in the second half.
The Eagles ended their season by winning 11 of their last 15 games, earning a No. 6 seed in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament. AU will begin the GLIAC Tournament on Tuesday, Feb. 28, at No 3 seed Lake Superior State (16-9, 13-8).
Ellenwood gave his seniors the credit for the turnaround in the second half of the season.
“These guys are winners. They wanted to win from the day they got here,” Ellenwood said.
“When we had that five-game losing streak, we knew it was now or never to turn it around. We knew we had to play a lot better. I’m not really surprised that we did. We were all confident in the locker room,” Cook said.
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