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Eagles Hold Off
Laker Men, 70-68; Advance to GLIAC Semis |
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Most reunions are held in mid-summer and the gatherings produce plenty of laughs. The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference is no slave to the calendar. The conference will stage reunions at any time and any place, especially if there’s good entertainment value to be had. Tuesday (Feb. 28) at Kates Gymnasium, the basketball teams from Ashland and Mercyhurst held a hoops reunion. There weren’t many guffaws to be had throughout the evening, however. A chainsaw was needed to cut through the tension these two produced. Because it was the third time the two had played this season, the teams held fewer secrets than an 11th-grade study hall. Such familiarity usually results in a close game and that was the case with this GLIAC quarterfinal tournament contest, which went to the Eagles, 70-68. Senior center Justin Brown hit a jumper with 3:56 to play to put Ashland ahead to stay and the Eagles (19-9) held off the Lakers (19-9) the rest of the way. The victory sends AU to the GLIAC Final Four for the first time since the 1998-99 season. The Final Four is being hosted by Grand Valley State and the Eagles will collide with top-seeded GVSU on Friday (Mar. 3) at 8 p.m. Brown’s jumper gave Ashland a 58-57 lead. A layup by guard-forward Vahn Knight with 3:01 to go pushed the lead to 60-58. AU led by as many as five points twice in the final 24 seconds. A three-pointer by MC guard Avi Fogel with one second to play got the final margin down to two points. Knight paced the Eagles with 23 points. He was 10-for-10 at the free throw line where Ashland converted 24-of-29 shots (82.8 percent). In the second half, the Eagles converted 21-of-24 free throw attempts (87.5 percent). On the season, AU is shooting 67 percent at the charity stripe. Fogel had 23 points for the Lakers and guard Terry Smith added 20 points. Forward Richard Field hit for 18 points. In addition to Knight and Brown, AU received 17 points from junior forward Greg Emmons. Brown paced AU on the glass with eight rebounds. For most of the game, every possession was like life-and-death and players were hanging onto each other. The Lakers were able to play at their favorite pace throughout the game, keeping the tempo slower than the Eagles would have liked. There were only two fastbreak points scored in the game – both by Ashland. Mercyhurst was in front, 33-31 at halftime. The lead would change hands 12 times throughout the evening. Mercyhurst’s largest lead in the second half came with 9:52 to play. A layup by Andy Kubinski, playing with a shoulder injury, gave MC a 48-45 lead. Moments later AU was back in front and the visitors didn’t lead again until a Kubinski trey with 4:17 to play in regulation gave the ‘Hurst a 57-56 lead. That set the stage for the jumper from Brown that gave AU the advantage it would never relinquish. The win gives Ashland three victories over the Lakers this season. AU has played Grand Valley State once this season and lost, 73-60. |