Eagles Men Get Second GLIAC Victory
January 24, 2004

On the way to Northern Michigan last Wednesday, the bus the Ashland University basketball team was riding on had to pull over with a faulty transmission. It was early in the trip and already the motor was sputtering.

That same problem has plagued the Eagles for much of this season. Slow starts have put the Eagles into holes that can’t dig their way out of.

That wasn’t the case for AU on Saturday (Jan. 24) in Sault Ste. Marie, MI. The Eagles led at halftime, 39-30 and held on for a 72-71 win over Lake Superior State.

Ashland is 9-10, 2-7 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Lake Superior State is 7-11 and 1-8.

Earlier this week, AU fell behind early against both Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan. The Eagles trailed by 20 at home against Tech and faced a 12-point halftime deficit against NMU. In both games AU played better in the second half, but not well enough to overcome those kinds of advantages.

At Lake Superior State, AU shot 50 percent (14-28) in the first half. Even though the lead was just nine at the intermission, the Eagles had confidence. That helped down the stretch. Lake State had the game’s final shot and a chance to win, but when it fell short, any chance of a win for the home team was gone. On Saturday, it was Ashland with the lead throughout the second half forcing someone else to come from behind.

Ashland’s leading scorer was freshman point guard Alex Jones. He had 15 points. Freshman forward Greg Emmons came off the bench for 14 points. Freshman guard Vahn Knight, freshman guard Chris Newell and junior forward Kevin Shorter had 10 points each.

Junior guard-forward Mark Church pulled down a team-high eight rebounds. Shorter had six rebounds.

Lake Superior State’s Jim Clement had 23 points to lead all scorers in the game.

Ashland shot 49.1 percent from the field (27-55) compared to 38.2 percent (26-68) for Lake Superior State. Both teams struggled from the free throw line – AU shot 68.4 percent (13-19) and Lake State was at 62.5 percent (10-16). Lake Superior State led on the glass, 39-35.