Ashland University falls to Malone in final home men's basketball game
ASHLAND — In the end, the hole was just too deep.
Trailing by 21 points early in the second half, the Ashland University men’s basketball team clawed its way back to take a 71-69 lead over Malone with four minutes remaining.
But down the stretch, the Eagles couldn’t sustain the effort and energy needed to finish the comeback, falling 87-80 to the Pioneers in a Great Midwest Athletic Conference game.
Ashland (18-9, 14-5) really needed the victory over Malone (15-10, 10-9) in the race for the regular-season conference championship. The Eagles are a full game behind both Hillsdale and Walsh with one regular-season game remaining.
The Pioneers are .
“Our guys fought back hard,” AU coach John Ellenwood said. “The second half we did a good job attacking. We did the job defensively.
“But they were more desperate than us. That was obvious. We learned a valuable lesson tonight. They're a good team. They deserved that win. They beat us twice this year. Now we've got to get ourselves off the mat.”
Senior guard Brandon Haraway scored the game’s first basket for the Eagles, but Malone scored 17 of the next 23 points to lead 17-8.
Behind senior Bo Myers and fifth-year player Justin Miller, the Pioneers kept building their advantage in the first half. With that pair combining for 31 points, Malone led 50-33 at halftime.
“They just came out harder than us,” Haraway said. “They were more desperate than us. I think we got comfortable as a winning team and we let them come in and do whatever they wanted.”
Junior guard Simon Blair, a South Central graduate, scored six straight Malone points to start the second half. Trailing 56-35, things looked bleak for the Eagles. Then two Haraway baskets ignited AU on a 25-4 binge and a 60-60 tie with 9:42 left in the game.
“I think we played harder, that’s all there is to it,” Ellenwood said. “We did a better job being more physical and being tougher.”
And they held Myers and Miller scoreless for the first 11 minutes of the second half while rallying for the tie.
Myers finally got on the board in the second half with three free throws to break the 60-60 tie, and Miller added another foul shot resulting from an AU technical foul.
With the possession from the technical, Levi Seiter scored inside to extend Malone’s lead to 66-60.
Trailing 69-66, the Eagles had one more push. Freshman guard Simon Wheeler scored along the right baseline with an assist from Haraway, then redshirt freshman forward Maceo Williams gave the Eagles a 71-69 lead with a three-point play with 4:03 left.
But the comeback stalled right there. After limiting Malone to 19 points in the first 16 minutes of the second half, the AU defense gave up 18 points in the final four minutes.
Ten of those points came at the foul line, including two by Seiter that gave Malone the lead for good at 73-71.
Miller then drained a couple of deep 3s to finish with a game-high 24 points, and the Pioneers closed out their second win of the season over AU at the foul line.
“We were fighting our best but it just slipped away from us,” Haraway said. “We fought so hard to get back into that game. Just to let it slip away like that really sucks.”
Haraway finished with 17 points, moving into 12th place on Ashland's all-time scoring list with 1,498 points.
Wheeler and Williams each scored 21 points, with Wheeler adding seven assists and Williams grabbing nine rebounds. Fifth-year forward James Manns gave AU four players in double figures with 13 points.
The Eagles will finish the regular season Saturday at Trevecca Nazarene (2-23, 1-18), then play host to a GMAC conference tournament quarterfinal game at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday against an opponent to be determined.
“We still can play for a (GMAC tournament) championship right now and an NCAA berth,” Ellenwood said. “We took a hard loss. Now we’ve got to win a game on the road. That’s where we are right now.”
This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Ashland University men fall in final home game to Malone
