ASHLAND − Ashland University coach John Ellenwood said it perfectly after the Eagles’ 61-60 loss at home to Walsh Thursday evening.
“It’s literally a couple of inches one way or the other,” he said in the locker room after the game.
In a contest that neither side could find any breathing room, AU held a slim, 57-56 lead with the ball and under a minute showing on the clock.
But an AU turnover with 35 seconds left gave the ball back to the Cavaliers. Their first attempt with nine seconds on the clock fell harmlessly off the rim, but an offensive rebound and an ensuing triple gave Walsh a 59-57 lead.
Another AU turnover on the inbounds pass led to a pair of Walsh free throws and a 4-point game. Trevell Adams would hit near half court shot at the buzzer for Ashland setting up the 1-point loss.
The loss drops Ashland to 10-6 in the GMAC while Walsh is now 11-4 and in first place.
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“They are a good team,” said Ellenwood on the Walsh effort. “They did a good job of adjusting to the way we played last time and not making it easy down low for our bigs. Milan Square (game-winning 3 for Walsh) hit some big shots and obviously that last one.
“We gave up a rebound and it was just one of those games that we get the rebound we win. They get the rebound, they win.”
The Eagles did hit a trio of triples en route to an 11-2 lead early in the contest, but Walsh would eventually take a 12-11 (9:56) as Ashland went scoreless for nearly 6 minutes. At halftime Ashland led 31-29.
The second half was a carbon copy of the first 20 minutes as neither side could find any separation. Walsh held a 5-point advantage with 5:19 at 53-48 before Ashland tied the game at 53 on a Victor Searls’ bucket from deep. Maceo Williams’ bucket at the 2:21 mark gave Ashland their least lead of the game at 57-56.
“A lot of it was confidence,” added Ellenwood on his message at halftime. “Hey what we are doing- we are getting open shots. Guys were wide open but sometimes it is like a knuckle ball defense. It is like ‘man I can’t believe I am this open.’ I told them guys if you are open hit the shot.
“Defensively the message was we are doing a good job on their best player. I thought we did a good enough job to win on him. He is an outstanding player and they have a lot of good players and one of them was hot tonight.”
Adams finished with a season-high 19 points and 4 rebounds with Searls adding 16 points and 9 boards. Simon Wheeler finished with 10 points and 5 assists.
“We are more than capable of fighting as we have been down before against them,” said Adams. “Coach told us this week we were down against them at their place by 11. We were prepared. Basketball is a game of runs. It was a battle for No. 1 coming in and we decided to be super tough. Just that last rebound we didn’t get and they closed out the game with a big-time shot.”
Ellenwood talked about the effort of Adams on the evening.
“He is playing really well,” he said. “Last two games he has been very solid for us and is a guy that has to play. Once he gets comfortable, he’s got to play. He hit some big shots and I thought he did a great job on defense. (Kobe) Mitchell is a tough guy to guard. He had 12 points, but he had to earn them. That is below his average by six points. There were multiple guys guarding that guy but Trevell had the main responsibility.”
This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Ashland U fall to Walsh by one-point in late stretch of game
