Ashland gets defensive in win over Madison

MADISON TOWNSHIP — It’s the holiday season, but Ashland wasn’t feeling especially charitable.

The Arrows held Madison without a field goal in the fourth quarter and cruised to a 61-42 Ohio Cardinal Conference win Tuesday night at Madison Middle School.

Ashland (4-1 overall, 1-1 in the Ohio Cardinal Conference) outscored the Rams (2-3, 0-2) 13-4 in the fourth. All four of Madison’s points in the period came from the free throw line.

“The ball rewards energy and we didn’t put the energy or the effort into it,” first-year Madison coach Chris Armstrong said. “They outworked us in every phase of the game. I don’t think you get rewarded with making shots when you don’t bring it.

“They just completely took it to us. They were more determined.”

The Arrows led 30-23 at the half, but the Rams got back-to-back buckets from Jayden Jeffries and Isaac Brooks to start the third, cutting Ashland’s advantage to 30-27 less than a minute into the period. Ashland responded with an 8-4 run capped by consecutive Luke Jurjevic layups to make it 38-31 midway through the quarter, but a pair of Levi Zehner free throws with 3:23 remaining made it 38-34.

That is as close as the Rams would get, however, as Ashland outscored Madison 10-4 to close the third. Carson Garrett’s layup with 31 seconds remaining in the period was the last field goal of the night for Madison.

“Tonight was our best defensive effort all year,” Ashland coach Jason Hess said. “Our concern this year was our defense. I felt like we had players who could score the basketball. It’s just a matter if we could get enough stops to win basketball games.

“Tonight we were fortunate enough to get some stops.”

A 6-foot-4 forward, Jurjevic was a headache for the Rams at both ends of the floor. He scored 15 points and altered several shots on the defensive end.

“We knew a lot of them were drivers. They didn’t have a ton of shooters,” Jurjevic said. “We kind of played the drive instead of the shot.”

Luke Denbow led Ashland with 19 points. Grayson Steury added 10, while Keslar Bates had nine.

Jeffries paced Madison with 16 points. Brooks had eight and Zehner added seven.

“We were tentative,” Armstrong said. “We’ve got to be more decisive and stronger with the ball.

“Offensively we’ve got to get a little more organized. … I want them to be fearless with their shooting but at the same time we’ve got to be intelligent with our shot selection.”