MADISON TOWNSHIP — Ashland found the range during the second half Tuesday at Madison Middle School.
The Arrows parlayed a 12-0 run bridging the third and fourth quarters into a 56-38 win over the Rams in Ohio Cardinal Conference action.
Madison (3-9, 1-4) trailed 32-24 early in the third before Jashawn Au scored five quick points to cut the Ashland lead to 32-29 with 4:46 to play in the period. The Arrows (5-4, 3-2) responded with four consecutive 3-pointers to open a 44-29 lead early in the fourth.
Luke Denbow, Garrett Denbow, Mitchell Heilman and Nathan Mohney all connected on triples during the game-breaking stretch.
“We’ve got multiple guys who can shoot the ball well from the perimeter,” Ashland coach Jason Hess said. “In the stretch when we made some shots, the ball moved from side to side and we were finding the open man.”
Madison, meanwhile, was its own worst enemy. The Rams struggled from the perimeter and committed several unforced turnovers.
“Our inability to string together continuous offensive possessions without turning it over is killing us. It is our Achilles’ heel,” Madison coach Tim Mergel said. “I think we’re doing a great job defensively but those live ball turnovers lead to such easy buckets for them in transition.
“These kids fight … but it’s little fundamental things we’ve got to improve on.”
Madison led 10-9 after the opening quarter before Heilman and Klejhan Randleman got it going for the Arrows in the second. Heilman scored seven of his 10 points in the period, while added six. Ashland led 24-20 at the break.
“I thought our defensive effort wasn’t where it needed to be in the first half,” Hess said. “What was discouraging for us was how many offensive rebounds we gave up early.”
The Arrows outscored the Rams 32-18 in the second half.
“We moved the basketball well and got open looks,” Mergel said. “I don’t know what we were from 3, but it wasn’t good.
“It’s a make or miss game. They made a lot of shots and we missed a lot of open ones.”
Randleman led the Arrows with 16 points. Garrett Denbow added 11, while Heilman and Sam Zickefoose had 10 and eight, respectively.
Jay Jones paced the Rams with 12. Au, Dylan Metz and Tyler Tackett each had eight.
Madison returns to action Friday, hosting Mount Vernon. Ashland welcomes Wooster to Arrow Arena on Friday before Norwalk comes to town Saturday.
