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THE TURNING POINT: Leading 18-16 in the first half, Ashland went on a 27-9 run.
STAT OF THE GAME: The Eagles' six-game winning streak is the second-longest currently in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
In 2015-16, Ashland University's men's basketball team began its 12-game winning streak on Jan. 23.
In 2016-17, the Eagles started their latest winning streak a little earlier (Jan. 7), and haven't looked back yet, posting their sixth straight victory, 86-65, over Findlay on Saturday (Jan. 28) at Kates Gymnasium. Ashland is 13-6 overall and 8-5 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, one game behind the Oilers (15-5, 9-4) for first place in the GLIAC South Division.
"Right now, our guys are playing well," said Ashland head coach John Ellenwood. "I thought last game, they responded. We won the last game against Walsh, but I didn't think we played our best basketball. We showed a lot better composure today.
"I think we're playing a lot better. I thought it was a total team effort."
Ashland improves to 7-3 at home in 2016-17, and 33-9 at "The Kates" since the start of the 2014-15 season.
The Eagles got the majority of their offense from their three starting guards. Sophomore point guard Ben Haraway led all scorers with 23 points and added seven rebounds and five assists.
"That's what's scary about us. We have a bunch of different guys that can go off on any given night," Haraway said. "I think we're starting to gel now, that's why we're on this winning streak. We know when to attack, when to move the ball now, so I think we're doing a good job with that."
"That was amazing," Ellenwood said. "That has to be consistent, but that was a lot of confidence I saw out there from Ben Haraway."
Senior Boo Osborne continues his march toward 1,000 career points, scoring 20 on 5-of-6 from 3-point range on Saturday. He has 978 career points.
Senior Adrian Cook made it three Eagles in double-digit scoring with 13 points.
The Eagles hit 58.9 percent from the field and 11-of-14 from the free-throw line, and turned the ball over just a dozen times. Ashland posted 17 assists (18th consecutive game with at least 10 helpers) and had a 36-29 rebounding advantage.
For the Oilers, Taren Sullivan led the charge with 21 points and eight rebounds.
Ashland had a slim 18-16 lead with 13:44 to go until halftime, then fashioned a 27-9 run thanks to balanced scoring from many sources. At the half, the Eagles led 50-31 and were hitting 66.7 percent from the floor.
The Eagles' defense kept the Oilers at bay in the second half, as Findlay shot 35.7 percent from the field.
"We're in a key stretch in our season right now. Our guys know that," Ellenwood said. "This is a big game for us if we wanted to stay with them in the league race."
UP NEXT: The last of three games in five days on Monday (Jan. 30) at 7:30 p.m. at Tiffin.
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