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Experience Pays Off
for Oilers in 74-65 Victory |
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Like Crosby, Stills and Nash used to sing, “Teach your children well.” The young Ashland University Eagles learned another lesson Saturday (Feb. 21) at Kates Gymnasium. An older, wiser Findlay team played its best in the game’s waning moments. That was the difference in preventing an AU upset as the Oilers held off the Eagles, 74-65 Findlay is 20-6, 12-4 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Ashland is 10-16 and 3-13 in league action. The teams were tied, 64-64 with 3:03 to play. From that point until the final whistle the Eagles were outscored, 9-1. The Eagles had four turnovers during that stretch and went 0-for-3 shooting from the floor. Point guard Dustin Pfeifer hit six of eight three-point field goal tries on the way to a game-high 24 points for Findlay. The Oilers shot 52.4 percent (11-for-21) from beyond the three-point arc. In addition to Pfeifer, Tyson McLaughlin came off the bench to score 16 points. He was on target with three of five shots from three-point range. McLaughlin has torched the Eagles from the outer limits before. In the first meeting this year between the two teams, an 85-69 UF win at Findlay, McLaughlin had 23 points (3-of-6 from trey land). Ashland was led by freshman point guard Alex Jones, who had 16 points. Another freshman guard, Chris Newell, had 15 points. Freshman forward Greg Emmons rounded out AU’s double-digit scorers with 11 points. Freshman center Greg Mayes pulled down 20 rebounds for AU. Mayes also had 10 boards on Thursday night against Wayne State. The Eagles outrebounded Findlay, 36-27, but had 20 turnovers compared to 12 for the Oilers. Findlay outscored the Eagles, 20-11 in points off of turnovers. Findlay led at halftime, 37-33 and the Eagles helped UF build that lead by giving the ball away 13 times over the first 20 minutes. The first time these two teams played, Findlay took control of the game in the final four minutes of the first half. The Eagles spent the remainder of that game playing from behind. This time, Findlay couldn’t shake the Eagles. Findlay had an eight-point lead, 41-33 with 18:19 left in regulation, but the Eagles fought back and tied the game, 43-43 on a three-pointer by Jones with 14:17 to play. That triple capped a 10-3 AU run that consumed 4:02. Ashland had a four-point lead, 51-47 with 11:25 to go. The game was tied eight times and the lead was exchanged 11 times. The Eagles end their season next Saturday (Feb. 28) with a 3 p.m. date at Hillsdale. |