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Opponent Scouting Report |
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Northwood – Head coach Bob
Taylor and the Timberwolves will enter the AU game looking to
snap a four-game losing streak. However, all four of those
contests were on the road. NU is 5-2 on its home floor this
season. Northwood is 6-10 overall, 1-6 in league play.
Last week, NU lost at Gannon, 66-55 and at
Mercyhurst, 69-67. Northwood receives 12.3 ppg., and 4.8 rpg.,
from 6-0 freshman guard Aaron Simpson. The club’s top
rebounder is 6-6 junior forward Curt Ludtke (6.2 rpg.).
Freshman guard Tony Marcotullio had a career-high 19 points
against Gannon. He hit 7-of-9 shots from the floor. Senior
guard Nemanja Kreckovic, a native of Serbia, scored 25 points,
22 in the second half, against Mercyhurst. |
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Saginaw Valley State – The
Cardinals begin this week with a 6-10 mark, 1-6 in GLIAC
action. SVSU has won two of its last three games. Last week,
the Cards divided a pair of games in Erie, PA, beating Gannon,
69-65 and losing to Mercyhurst, 67-63. Sydney McDaniel, a 6-1
junior guard, is Saginaw Valley’s leading scorer at 11.4
ppg. Andrae Betts, a 5-9 junior guard, averages 10.2 ppg.
Betts shot 50 percent from three-point range (7-of-14) in last
week’s trip to northwestern Pennsylvania. Kevin Thornton,
a 6-8 freshman center, has rejected 23 shots in 16 games.
SVSU is the GLIAC leader in free throw
percentage (.738). The Cardinals are coached by Jamie
Matthews. |
The Week Ahead
Thursday, Jan. 19 – ASHLAND at Northwood, 8 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 21 – ASHLAND at Saginaw Valley State,
3 p.m.
The Ashland-Saginaw Valley State can be heard live on WNCO
1340 AM
About the Eagles
The late Ohio State football coach Woody Hayes didn’t like to
speak the word, “Michigan.” Blue and maize didn’t
do much for the Buckeye boss.
Ashland University head basketball coach Roger
Lyons doesn’t share that aversion to the Wolverine State,
but he may not have to see the state again this season. After this
week’s games, AU doesn’t play in the state the rest of
the regular season. Ashland’s final regular season games are
at Gannon, Mercyhurst and Findlay. Those are some of the shortest
trips on the slate.
AU comes into this week with a 13-4 record, 5-2
in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The
Eagles, ranked 25th in last week’s National Association of
Basketball Coaches poll, are in second place in the GLIAC South,
one game ahead of third place Wayne State.
Ashland has won seven of its last eight games.
Last week, the Eagles lost at Wayne State in overtime (85-83) and
won at Hillsdale, 75-69.
AU Facts and Figures
The Eagles continue to rank among the GLIAC’s best in a
number of categories. Ashland is the GLIAC’s highest scoring
team at 79.4 ppg. AU is second in the loop in field goal
percentage defense (.407) and third in scoring margin (+7.4) and
rebound margin (+7.5). The Eagles are fourth in field goal
percentage (.474).
It’s hard to find a more productive tandem
in the conference than senior center Justin Brown (Columbus,
OH/West Liberty) and junior forward Greg Emmons (Ashland,
OH). Brown, this week’s GLIAC South player of the week,
is the conference leader in scoring (18.3 ppg.). He’s second
in field goal percentage (.633), third in rebounding (9.8 rpg.)
and 10th in blocked shots (0.88).
This past week, Brown averaged 22.5 ppg., 15.0
rpg., and shot 59 percent from the floor and 72 percent at the
free throw line. Brown had a pair of double-doubles last week and
has turned that trick four times in the past five games. Over the
last five games Brown is averaging 18.2 ppg., and 11.2 rpg. Last
week, Brown had 21 points and 14 boards at Wayne State and 24
points and 16 rebounds at Hillsdale.
Emmons is fourth in the conference in
rebounding (7.8 rpg.) and eighth in scoring (14.1 ppg.). The
Ashland High product pulled down a career-high 13 rebounds at
Hillsdale. Earlier this season, Emmons produced a pair of
12-rebound games. Last week also saw Emmons snare the 400th
rebound of his career.
Sophomore guard Brett Bartlett (LaGrange,
OH/Kent State) is fourth in the GLIAC in three-point field
goal percentage (.455) and is seventh in assist-turnover ratio
(1.47). In two games last week Bartlett played 81 out of a
possible 85 minutes.
Junior guard-forward Vahn Knight (Euclid,
OH/Benedictine) is 13th in the GLIAC in scoring (13.4 ppg.).
Knight is shooting .784 percent from the charity stripe and that
puts him 10th in the conference.
Rob McRae (Flint, MI/Mott C.C.) is 12th
in the conference in steals per game (1.59). The junior, in his
first season at AU, is 18th in the conference in scoring (13.2
ppg.).
The Line on Lyons
Lyons is in his 13th season with the Eagles. His career record
is 202-144. The Akron, OH, native is the career leader in
victories at Ashland. A 1974 Ashland graduate, Lyons has guided
the Eagles to 18 or more wins in a season five times. In
1999-2000, he directed the Eagles to a 20-9 finish. His 1987-88
team went 19-10 and advanced to the NCAA Division II playoffs.
Short Shots
- Ashland has had the last two GLIAC South
Division players of the week (Brown this week, McRae last week).
Brown has been the GLIAC South Division player of the week twice
this season.
- Last week’s overtime game at Wayne
State was AU’s first of the season. The Eagles are 3-2 in
their last five overtime games.
- The loss at Wayne State was AU’s first
road setback of the season.
- AU made 10 three-point field goals at Wayne
State. That’s the most triples the Eagles have had in a
game since they had 10 treys against Cincinnati-Clermont in the
season opener.
- Ashland was +19 against Hillsdale in
rebounds last week. That’s the third time this season AU
has been +19 or better on the boards.
Conference Call
The Eagles are 5-2 in GLIAC play and sitting in second place in
the GLIAC South Division. AU has 10 league contests left and has a
chance to put together its best league mark in several years.
Ashland has been a conference member since the 1995-96 campaign.
The Eagles’ best finish was in 1999-2000 when they finished
13-6 and tied for second in the GLIAC South. AU also tied for
second in the division in 1997-98 with a 9-8 record. The last time
Ashland had 10 or more conference wins was in 2001-2002 when the
Eagles were 11-6 and finished in a tie for third place in the
division.
Rewriting the Record Book
Several AU players are climbing the career statistical charts.
Their progress can be found below.
| Greg Emmons |
Points |
Rebounds |
| |
790 |
419 |
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Noteworthy: Emmons’ father, Randy,
scored 1,124 points and collected 502 rebounds. Eighteen
players have scored over 1,000 points at AU and 10 have 500 or
more rebounds. |
| Vahn Knight |
Points |
|
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798 |
|
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Noteworthy: In a quiet and steady fashion,
Knight continues his climb toward 1,000 points. He’s
never averaged less than 10.4 ppg., in a season and is
shooting a career-best 42 percent from the floor this season.
Knight is shooting 77 percent from the free throw line in his
career. |
| Justin Brown |
Rebounds |
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549 |
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Noteworthy: Brown is seventh in career
boards and needs eight more rebounds to move past Dick
Steineman (556) into seventh place. Over the last season and a
half (44 games) Brown has averaged 9.5 rpg., and shot 66
percent (199-301) from the floor. |
Up Next
The Eagles return home next week for games with Ferris State
(Thursday, Jan. 26, 7:30 p.m.) and Grand Valley State (Saturday,
Jan. 28, 3 p.m.). The game against Ferris State is the annual “Pack
the House Night.” |
