ASHLAND – It was “Smurf Night” on Friday at Ashland High School, where the school’s student section dressed up like the blue, gnome-like creatures while supporting its boys basketball squad.
The Arrows, however, left the gym feeling anything but blue, blowing past visiting Dover 67-41 behind a monster second half to climb into a first-place tie with the Tornadoes atop the Ohio Cardinal Conference.
It was the largest margin of victory this season for Ashland (7-5, 6-2 OCC) and the largest margin of defeat for Dover (8-6, 6-2) in a game that featured teams going in opposite directions.
The Arrows are the hottest squad in the league, having won six of their last eight. The Tornadoes, meanwhile, have dropped five of their last six after storming out of the gates to a 7-1 start (6-0 OCC) in their first year in the conference.
Ashland outscored Dover 41-20 after halftime, essentially putting the nail in the coffin with a 14-0 run that spanned the end of the third quarter and the start of the fourth.
That spurt made it 53-30 and led to the Tornadoes allowing a season-high total in points. Meanwhile, the Arrows’ defense was sound.
“We did not give up easy baskets to them; we made them work for their stuff and we made some shots,” said Ashland head coach Jason Hess, whose squad was 21-of-35 from the field (60 percent). “When you make shots, the game’s just a lot easier.
“Fortunately, the last couple weeks we’ve been shooting the ball much better. We knew going into the season one of the strengths of our team was going to be how well we shoot the perimeter shot.”
Ironically, the Arrows hit just as many 3-pointers (eight) as they did in their 52-46 loss at Dover on Dec. 12. But on Friday, they were stout on defense and balanced in their attack across multiple categories.
Guard Paxon Ediger had a game-high 23 points along with five rebounds and four assists, while AHS senior guards Gabe Baith (14 points, 7 assists, 3 steals) and Reed Emmons (11 points, 6 rebounds) also were double-digit scorers.
“Gabe and Paxon are really good at knowing who’s hitting shots and who’s not,” Emmons said. “If they’re hitting shots, they’re gonna take their shots, but if they’re not we’ve got other guys they can pass it to. It’s just about sharing the ball.”
Emmons, who committed in the fall to play golf at Ashland University, buried three 3-pointers and now is 28-of-60 this season from the perimeter.
Add in solid nights from juniors Garrett Davis (8 points, 4 assists) and Killian O’Brien (5 points, 7 rebounds), and the Arrows had one of their most balanced efforts of the season.
The hosts even finished a sparkling 17-of-19 from the free-throw line.
All of it helped AHS turn a close, 26-21 halftime lead into a runaway victory.
“Ashland does a good job of spreading you out and making you cover lots of distance on the floor,” Dover coach Matt Von Kaenel said. “Tonight, we fell victim to a couple of runs and we had some really bad decision-making for key moments in the game.
“We thought we kinda righted the ship there in the second quarter, but then the third quarter came and it was everything you don’t want to happen to start the second half.”
The Tornadoes got out to a 6-0 start behind 3-pointers from both Gavin Van Horn and Luke Leggett, but Ashland closed out the first quarter on an 18-2 run that included 11 points from Ediger.
Senior guard Robbie Copple was the only Dover player to hit a 3-pointer the rest of the night, finishing with a team-high 15 points as the Tornadoes sputtered to a 5-of-26 performance from downtown.
Ashland didn’t score for nearly the first six minutes of the second quarter, but Davis hit a turnaround jumper in the lane with 2:04 showing to start a 6-0 run.
Dover struggled with foul trouble in the second half and never seemed to get in rhythm.
After their flashy start to the season – which included five wins by six or fewer points – Von Kaenel said his Tornadoes are trying to navigate their youth.
“Our kids got to thinking they were pretty good and we went through the league (the first time) thinking the ball was always going to bounce our way,” the second-year head coach and 1997 Dover graduate said. “Little did they know we hadn’t been to Ashland or Mansfield yet and the league kinda goes through those gyms.”
In the OCC’s other huge showdown Friday night, New Philadelphia (9-4, 5-3) scored a season-high 71 points to knock off Mansfield Senior (8-5, 5-3) at home, 71-59.
That outcome leaves Ashland tied with Dover for first in an OCC that looks to have four teams vying for supremacy.
“It’s always nice to be in first place or in a tie for first place,” Hess said, “but there’s a lot of basketball to be played.
“We’ve got to really make sure we get locked in and focus one game at a time and not let one of the teams at the tail end of the league bite us and take away from achieving our goals this year.”
The Arrows get a huge test Saturday at Massillon Washington (8-1) – a team that beat Mansfield Senior, 96-80 – before returning home Tuesday for an OCC clash with Madison (5-7, 2-5).