 |
 Jeffrey Ferguson blocks AU's final shot (Stephen Knoche photo). |
Jan. 12, 2006
DETROIT - Jeffrey Ferguson (Toronto, Ont.) blocked Greg Emmons' final shot with 1.6 seconds left in overtime to give Wayne State (7-6, 2-3 GLIAC) an 85-83 win over No. 25-Ashland (12-4, 4-2 GLIAC) in front of a ruckus crowd Thursday night at the Matthaei in Detroit. The victory is WSU's second over a ranked opponent this season.
Senior Erik Parker's (Oak Park, Mich.) hook shot off the glass and a short jumper by Herb Goliday (Royal Oak Twp., Mich.) put WSU up 4-0. Moments later, senior Ethan Banks (Warren, Ohio) banked in a deep three and junior Kris Krzyminski (Flint, Mich.) drained one of his own for a 12-8 lead. Krzyminski then got a steal and layup to increase the lead to six points.
Ashland scored seven straight and a three-pointer by Rob McRae silenced the crowd and gave the Eagles a 15-14 lead with 14:33 left in the first half. Krzyminski's layup over a minute later gave the Warriors the lead back. The teams exchanged one-point leads for the next seven minutes until AU scored seven straight points for a 28-23 advantage.
WSU regained the lead thanks to back-to-back Jacob Black (Detroit, Mich.) jumpers with 2:31 to play in the first half. Ashland scored six in a row after that before Goliday's finger roll with four seconds left that made the halftime score Ashland 34, WSU 31.
There were 12 lead changes in the first 20 minutes of the game.
Will Pierce's (Detroit, Mich.) three cut the Eagles' lead down to 36-34 during the first two minutes of the second half, but AU increased its lead to five points after a McRae three with 12:31 left. Banks came right back to tie the game at 49 with his second three of the game. After two Eagle foul shots, Banks gave the Warriors a one-point lead with another shot from downtown and WSU went on to score seven straight for a 56-51 margin.
The Warriors' advantage grew to 61-55 on Banks' fourth three of the game with 8:08 to play. Then Krzyminski put WSU up 69-61 on another one of his classic reverse layups. Krzyminski got the lucky bounce off the back of the rim to beat the shot clock buzzer and put WSU ahead, 73-67, with 42 seconds left. But Ashland scored four quick points to cut it down to a one-possession game with 22.3 ticks to go. AU's McRae made just one of three free throws with 11.6 seconds to play, but Vahn Knight hit a jumper to send the game into overtime.
The Warriors scored the first five points of overtime. After an Eagle foul shot, Goliday put WSU up 82-75 with a three-point play. Ashland then went on an eight-point run to take another one-point lead with 1:55 to play, but Parker powered himself down low for a basket.
Up by two in the final seconds, Black swatted away a Knight attempt, but the Eagles held onto the possession. Ashland inbounded the ball with 1.6 seconds left, but Ferguson (who was guarding the inbound) got the final block to seal WSU's fourth straight win.
Goliday and Krzyminski each recorded their second double-double of the season. Goliday scored 17 points and had a team-high 13 rebounds while Krzyminski had a career-best 22 points and tied his career mark with 12 assists. Banks finished with 21 points thanks to 5-of-9 from downtown.
Knight and Justin Brown led the Eagles with 21 points each.
WSU made its first 15 free throws, and finished 17-of-19 at the line. AU made just 17-of-33 from the charity stripe.
The Warriors will face their second straight nationally-ranked team on Saturday when Findlay visits Detroit at 3 p.m.
