ASHLAND – The Ashland boys basketball team is a walking reclamation project.
At home Friday against visiting Mount Vernon, the Arrows turned an eight-point halftime deficit into an eight-point victory, 68-60.
Ashland (9-11 overall, 6-7 in the Ohio Cardinal Conference) lost its first six games inside Arrow Arena, but has won its last four at home.
More impressively, the Arrows’ win Friday over the Yellow Jackets (9-10, 7-6) marked their third victory over a league opponent that had beaten them the first time through the conference schedule.
It’s the first time since the 2011-12 campaign that Ashland has had a second-half turnaround like that in OCC play.
On Friday, the team used five double-digit scorers to turn the tables on Mount Vernon. Arrows coach Jason Hess said he doesn’t remember ever seeing that type of scoring balance in his nine seasons leading the program.
“I’m guessing that’s the first win we’ve had all year after trailing going into the fourth quarter,” said Hess, now one win from 100 in his career. “So to be able to come from behind and pull that out and get the contributions that we got from so many different guys tonight – whether it was big shots or great passes or a defensive stop – I felt like it was a total team win.”
Ashland, which lost 56-49 at Mount Vernon in the first meeting, would have trailed 41-30 at halftime Friday had senior Max Swaisgood not buried a 3-pointer at the buzzer. From that bucket through the end of the game, the Arrows outscored MVHS, 38-19.
The Yellow Jackets fell to 0-9 when allowing more than 50 points and have now alternated a win with a loss for seven straight games. When they beat Ashland at home, they trailed by six at the half, but on Friday, the Arrows flipped the script.
“(Allowing) 68 is just too much for how we’re built to be able to have a chance, especially when we’re on the road,” Jackets coach Nick Coon said. “I thought we played a really good offensive first half, but our message at halftime was the game’s got to be won defensively.
“They scored at a great clip for the whole game on us and we just couldn’t keep up,” he said. “You can definitely tell they’re seasoned from earlier in the year. They’ve really taken off and they’ve played some good basketball here lately.”
Senior guard Andrew Burke had the visitors rolling well in the first half, dropping in 17 points on five 3-pointers and a driving layup high off the glass prior to intermission.
“He got going in that first half, got some clean looks and knocked them down,” Coon said.
Zane Barber also netted eight first-half points for the Jackets, who hit seven shots from downtown in the first two quarters while also making their first eight free throws.
On defense, meanwhile, Mount Vernon held AHS guard Paxon Ediger without a point until two minutes had passed in the second quarter. The sophomore had piled up a team-season-high 30 points a week earlier against Madison and has been the offensive catalyst for Ashland for weeks.
But the Arrows put their defensive foot down in the second half, as Burke (game-high 22 points) and Barber (11) were held to just eight points and one field goal combined in the final two quarters.
Mount Vernon’s only field goal in the third period came from junior forward Quentin Rowland, helping Ashland set up a tight fourth.
The Arrows got key play in the post from 6-foot-5 sophomore Nathan Bernhard, but after putting together 12 points and seven rebounds, he was sent to the bench with his fourth foul a few minutes before the fourth quarter.
“I knew I had a big (size) advantage on these guys,” Bernhard said. “… So I knew I had to take advantage and I was going to have to dominate inside.”
His absence down low left Ashland searching for answers from the outside, and the hosts got just that in a flurry. Three different Arrows – Reed Emmons, Gabe Baith (team-high 14 points) and Tyler Sauder (10) – knocked down treys in a span of 90 seconds in the fourth.
Sauder hit the last of that trio in the right corner off a pass from Baith, giving Ashland a 55-51 edge.
Had the Jackets gotten a stop there and a bucket on the other end, they would have taken back the lead. Instead, that shot was part of a 14-4 AHS run. Sauder, who hasn’t made more than 10 3-pointers all year, said it was probably the biggest shot he’s hit this season.
“We had a great team effort and we’re starting to figure out how to play together,” the junior said. “I love playing here; the student section’s great, the fans are great, the jazz band is nice, too. … It was a fun one.”
Ashland senior Isaac Stewart had at least four assists in the fourth quarter as well.
“On different nights it’s been different guys and different combinations of five,” Hess said. “They got hot and we had the momentum going and just rode them as long as we could.”
Mount Vernon junior Isaiah Columber netted seven of his 11 points for the game in the fourth quarter, including a 3-pointer of his own with 1:19 left to cut the deficit to 64-60.
But Ediger (13 points) picked up a critical steal near half-court that led to a pair of made free throws with 37 seconds left. Then Bernhard (13 points, game-high nine rebounds) clinched it when he blocked the ensuing MVHS shot and tipped the ball downcourt to Sauder for a layup.
It was a rather frantic finish in a second half that saw plenty of foul calls that frustrated fans and coaches on both sides.
The teams both shot it well, with Ashland netting 26-of-46 attempts (57 percent) and Mount Vernon at 19-of-40 (48 percent), but it was the Arrows pulling away in the last meeting as OCC rivals. The Jackets will join the Licking County League next season.
“We’ve enjoyed this league,” said Coon, whose squad travels to Watkins Memorial on Saturday. “A lot of games like tonight – competitive, great atmosphere, communities that care about it, good kids, good coaches. It’s been a great basketball league for us.”
Ashland, meanwhile, will try to put the finishing touches on its eye-opening OCC turnaround next Friday at home against West Holmes (2-15, 0-12).
An Arrows team that started 1-5 in conference play could end up .500 and as high as a tie for third in the OCC standings.
While a lot has been made of Ashland’s three sophomore starters (Baith, Ediger and Bernhard) growing with each game, Bernhard said it’s far more than that.
“Even our upperclassmen, they don’t have a lot of varsity experience,” he said, “so this whole year we’re just gaining experience, gaining team chemistry.”
Hess agreed.
“You’ve got to give our seniors and upperclassmen a lot of credit,” the coach said. “Those guys come every day, keep grinding and they’ve been through the battle. … They really make a big difference with those little plays that we need to win games.”
