ASHLAND — Davenport guard Avery Hudson put on a shooting clinic during the second Friday at Ashland University’s Kates Gymnasium, but AU coach John Ellenwood wasn’t around to see most of it.
Hudson scored 18 of his 32 points after the break and the Panthers rumbled to a 92-72 win in a matchup of the the top two teams in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference’s South Division.
Ellenwood was ejected early in the second half after picking up a pair of technical fouls. The veteran coach had to be restrained before being escorted to the locker room with 16:49 remaining and seventh-ranked AU (18-2, 10-2) trailing 37-46. Hudson made all four technical free throws and the Panthers (17-3, 9-3) began to pull away.
“I shouldn’t have done what I did,” Ellenwood said afterward. “There was a flop and it didn’t get called.
“It’s arguing balls and strikes, I guess, but I just got sick of arguing balls and strikes all night.”
Hudson caught fire shortly after Ellenwood’s departure. The sophomore, who managed just two points on 1 of 13 shooting in the first meeting (a 72-60 AU win in early December), connected on 4 of 5 field goals and 7 of 8 free throws after intermission. He was 10-for-14 from the field on the night with five 3-pointers.
“They’ve got a great player in Avery Hudson,” Ellenwood said. “He’s kind of the guy who makes everything go for them.”
The Eagles got off to a fast start, scoring the game’s first nine points. AU led 23-13 midway through the first half, but the Panthers outscored Ashland 25-9 the rest of the way and led 38-32 at halftime.
“We just got stagnant about 10 minutes in. We just didn’t score,” Ellenwood said. “We got complacent on a couple of plays and they got up and down a little faster than us. We didn’t get matched up in transition and gave up some easy points.
“You can’t really score if you’re just passing the ball around the perimeter. We didn’t get any kind of penetration. We were just taking contested shots. That’s what we usually do to other people and they did it to us.”
Davenport’s 92 points were the most allowed by AU all season. The Eagles rank first in the GLIAC and third in the nation in scoring defense, allowing 60.5 points a game.
“We usually do a better job on defense. We just didn’t do a good job of keeping them in front,” Ellenwood said. “We didn’t use our chest on defense and we didn’t move our feet very well.
“It’s just something that’s going to happen and we’re going to learn from it.”
Ben Haraway was one of the few bright spots for the Eagles. The Norwalk product scored a season-high 27 points on 9 of 14 shooting and didn’t commit a turnover in 36 minutes of floor time.
“We came out with a lot of energy because we knew this was a big game,” Haraway said. “After our big start we kind of slowed down a little bit. We started to lose focus and we weren’t taking things away on the defensive end.
“That’s something we’re not used to. We’re one of the best defensive teams in the GLIAC. That’s something we take pride in so it’s really frustrating we gave up so many points tonight.”
The Eagles host Grand Valley State on Saturday.
“We can just move on as fast as we can and focus on our next game,” Haraway said. “Sometimes one loss is all you need to turn things around. Hopefully this will get us motivated.”
