Tournament Title Goes To Eagles
December 29, 2005

Complete Box Score

Ashland’s Home Depot and Home Hardware closed up shop fairly early on Thursday night (Dec. 29). A couple of hours later, the Ashland University Eagles closed out their hardware store at Kates Gymnasium.

For the eighth time in the nine-year history of their holiday tournament, the Eagles walked off the floor with some impressive hardware - the championship trophy. This time, the Eagles turned back Lincoln Memorial, 86-75. In the consolation game, Malone downed Slippery Rock in overtime, 92-88.

Senior center Justin Brown posted his sixth double-double of the season with 21 points and 12 rebounds as Ashland (10-4) won its fourth consecutive game. The Eagles have won eight of their last nine games. They return to conference play next Thursday (Jan. 5), when they host Gannon.

Brown wasn’t the only legitimate scoring threat for AU against LMU. Junior guard-forward Vahn Knight also scored 21 points and he pulled down eight missed shots. Junior guard Rob McRae hit for 16 points and junior forward Greg Emmons tallied 13 points. Emmons completed a double-double with 10 boards.

Ashland led by just 40-38 at halftime. LMU (2-9) had a 53-52 lead with 13:08 to play before AU outscored the visitors, 17-2 over the next 4:12. AU had to work hard for that lead because the Eagles wasted a number of opportunities to help themselves. At the free throw line, they were 25-of-41 (61 percent). In the first half, the Eagles were 4-of-12 (33.3 percent) at the charity stripe.

Like many teams this season, the Railsplitters searched all night for a way to control Brown (18.5 ppg., 9.5 rpg.). By game’s end, three LMU players had exited due to fouls. One of those – Johnny Martin – was highly effective when he wasn’t dogged by the whistles. Martin had 32 points and nine rebounds. He was 11-for-19 from the floor, 5-of-10 from three-point range.

AU outrebounded the Railsplitters, 50-41 and enjoyed a 22-14 edge in second chance points.

In the consolation game, Slippery Rock guard Matt Hale sent the game to the extra session with a pair of free throws with 15 seconds left in regulation. That tied the game, 78-78. Malone scored the first five points in overtime on two free throws by Ben Carver and a three-point field goal by Chris Miller. The Pioneers (5-10) never trailed after that.

Tyler Renner had 23 points for Malone. Hall had 27 points for Slippery Rock (1-10).