Kates Gymnasium will play host to four men's basketball games this week in the AU Thanksgiving Classic, presented by Hampton Inn & Suites. The full event schedule follows.
Tuesday, Nov. 21, 5 p.m. - Indianapolis at Ashland
Tuesday, Nov. 21, 7 p.m. - Kentucky State vs. Tiffin
Wednesday, Nov. 22, 1 p.m. - Tiffin vs. Indianapolis
Wednesday, Nov. 22, 3 p.m. - Kentucky State at Ashland
Game 4 (Honorary Coach: John Nethers)
Indianapolis at Ashland | Tuesday, Nov. 21, 5 p.m. | Kates Gymnasium
LIVE STATS | AUDIO | VIDEO
Game 5
Kentucky State at Ashland | Wednesday, Nov. 22, 3 p.m. | Kates Gymnasium
LIVE STATS | AUDIO | VIDEO
HOME FOR THANKSGIVING: The AU men's basketball team will play host to its first four-team classic around the Thanksgiving holiday with two games on Tuesday and Wednesday in the AU Thanksgiving Classic, presented by Hampton Inn & Suites. AU will play Indianapolis on Tuesday with Tiffin and Kentucky State playing in the second game. On Wednesday, Ashland will play KSU with Tiffin playing UIndy.
LAST LOOK AT LAST WEEK: Ashland played its highest-scoring game of the season last Wednesday, securing a 97-87 win at California (Pa.) in nonconference, in-region action. Senior forward Wendell Davis scored a career-high 37 points to go with 11 rebounds and five assists on 13-for-17 shooting to lead the Eagles, who shot 64 percent from the field in the game. Junior guard Ben Haraway scored an AU career-high 28 points in the win, going 11-for-18 from the field.
ANOTHER GLIAC HONOR: Davis won the GLIAC South Player of the Week honor for the second time in as many weeks for his performance. He has now won the award nine times in his career. Davis is averaging 31 points, seven rebounds and 4.3 assists per game on 65 percent shooting on the season. He is also shooting 56 percent from 3-point range.
SCORING LIST CLIMB: Davis now sits in 11th place on AU's all-time scoring list with 1,424 points. He is just 14 points behind Greg Emmons (2007) to climb into the top 10.
POINT GUARD EFFICIENCY: Haraway has been impressive as a ball-handler and shooter in the early portions of the season for the Eagles. His shooting touch has carried the offense at certain stretches and his ability to not turn the ball over. Haraway is second on the team in scoring, averaging 19 points per game on 50 percent (22-44) shooting. He is also 6-for-10 on 3-pointers. Haraway has given up just 1.7 turnovers in a GLIAC-high 38 minutes per game.
MARSALIS IS BACK: Senior forward Marsalis Hamilton played a season-high 29 minutes in the Eagles' win at California (Pa.) last week. He was limited to just nine minutes in the season opener against Lake Erie and missed AU's next game at Ohio Dominican with a nagging injury. In his time off the bench against the Vulcans, Hamilton dropped 13 points on 5-for-6 shooting while also dishing out three assists. He joined Davis on the Preseason All-GLIAC team after averaging 9.9 points, 6.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists last season.
NOBLE PERFORMANCE: Sophomore center Drew Noble, is the third Eagle averaging double figures in scoring. He scored a career-high 29 points in the season-opening win over Lake Erie and followed it up with a double-double at Ohio Dominican with 12 points and 12 boards. For the season, Noble is averaging 15.7 points and 8.3 rebounds on 55 percent shooting.
PRESEASON ALL-AMERICAN: Davis was named a preseason All-American by Street & Smith's and The Basketball Times despite missing all of last season with an injury. In 2015-16, Davis led the Eagles in scoring (17.4), rebounding (7.7) and assists (3.3), helping Ashland reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 25 years. He was a first team NABC and Daktronics/D2CCA all-region selection.
PRESEASON FAVORITE: The Eagles were picked by the GLIAC coaches to win GLIAC South in the preseason poll. Ashland received eight of the 12 first-place votes in the South with Wayne State picking up the other four. The Eagles won the GLIAC South outright in 2015-16, going 18-4 in conference play and 24-4 in the regular season.
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