Eagles Have Wild Ride in Opening Game Win of Men's Basketball Season
November 15, 2005

Complete Box Score

Cedar Park is closed. Basketball season is open.

Who would have guessed that at this point, Kates Gymnasium features the better roller-coaster.

Up and down the 2005-06 Eagles went Tuesday night (Nov. 15) in the season lid-lifter against Cincinnati-Clermont. The stubborn Cougars, led by sophomore point guard Stefan Dunn, wouldn’t let the Eagles rest. Although AU won, 82-75, this wasn’t an easy opener by any stretch of the imagination.

Much of the good news for Ashland revolved around junior forward Vahn Knight and senior center Justin Brown. Knight scored 24 points, one point shy of his career high and Brown had 10 points and 13 rebounds. Guards Rob McRae and Brett Bartlett, both starters, hit for 11 points each.

Ashland was in front, 37-31 at halftime and had a 60-46 advantage with 10:41 to play in regulation. The Cougars whittled that advantage down to 75-73 with 1:17 to play on a jumper by Dunn.

The Eagles outscored the visitors, 7-2 the rest of the way. That run began with a three-point field goal by Knight with 57 seconds to play.

Dunn had 28 points to lead all players in the game. He connected on 10-of-21 field goal tries and was 3-for-8 from three-point range. Tion Starr added 17 points for the Cougars (1-2) and Troy Girty had 14. Brad Hosler had a team-high 11 rebounds. Cincinnati-Clermont outrebounded the Eagles, 45-42.

The visitors tried to make the Eagles beat them from outside, opening the game in a 2-3 zone. Knight ended the night with four three-point field goals and Bartlett buried three treys. Ashland shot 11-for-31 (35.5 percent) from three-point range.

AU head coach Roger Lyons has emphasized that the Eagles are at their best when they work the ball inside and run the offense through Brown. The AU big man dropped in 4-of-10 field goal attempts. Ashland shot 43.8 percent (32-73) from the field. That figure was much better in the second half when the Eagles shot 51.5 percent (17-of-33) from the floor. That was also when AU was able to open up the game and run.

This was the first meeting between the schools. Ashland has now won its opener seven times in the last eight seasons.

Thursday (Nov. 17) the Eagles travel an hour down the road to visit Mount Vernon Nazarene. On Saturday (Nov. 19), the Eagles entertain Saint Joseph’s (IN).