ASHLAND, Ohio – The Greyhound men's basketball team has now won three straight games after dropping the season opener to Northwood, defeating Ashland, 62-61, on Tuesday evening from Sherrill Hudson Court. The win is also the third in-region victory for UIndy, which has a chance to add to its total tomorrow afternoon against Tiffin. Hall hit a jumper with 48 seconds remaining in the half to give the Hounds their final lead that they would not surrender.
 
The Hounds are now 3-1 after winning their first game away from Nicoson Hall.
 
Ajay Lawton paced UIndy with 16 points on seven-for-19 shooting, while Hall chipped in 12 on five-for-seven from the floor. Jesse Kempson had a game-high nine rebounds for the Hounds.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Greyhounds got a balanced scoring attack in the first half, while limiting the Eagles' top two scorers to just 11 points. Tate Hall came off the bench for the third straight game and immediately contributed, giving UIndy its first lead off the game when he drilled a three-pointer to make the score 9-8 just over five minutes into the contest.
 
UIndy trailed 22-18 after the halfway mark, but CJ Hardaway Jr. drew a foul and hit a pair of free throws, which would prove to spark the Greyhound offense. The Hounds went on a 10-0 run, with six points coming from the St. Joseph's College transfer. Eric Davidson made a deep ball with over three minutes left in the opening half to give the visitors an eight-point lead.
 
Both offenses stalled the final couple minutes, but Jesse Kempson grabbed an offensive board and hit a jumper to give UIndy a 37-32 lead with 11 seconds left, which would hold at the break.
 
Lawton and Hardaway Jr. scored the first six points of the second half to jump the Greyhound lead up to 11, forcing a timeout by the Eagles. Ashland immediately went on a 10-0 run to dwindle the UIndy lead down to just one.
 
In what had proven to be a game full of runs, the Greyhounds went on a 9-0 as a response to take another eight-point lead on the heels of five points from Hall. UIndy held onto its five-point lead for two-and-a-half minutes, but Ashland quickly tied the game with just 6:36 remaining in the second half.
 
Hall drilled a jumper to give the Hounds back the lead as the shot clock was expiring with just 48 seconds remaining and Davidson went two-for-two at the charity stripe to seal the victory and stave off an Eagles' final comeback attempt to win, 62-61.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
The Hounds shot just seven free throws on the night, but still attempted more from the charity stripe than the host Eagles. It is the least amount of free throws UIndy has attempted in a game since January 19, 2013 at Southern Indiana.
 
After going scoreless against Northwood, Tate Hall has reached double-digit points in three consecutive games. The sophomore is shooting 69.2 percent from the field thus far this season.
 
The 61 points against is the least amount of tallies the Greyhounds have surrendered through four games, and is also the fewest total for Ashland through its four games. The Hounds haven't held a team to 61 or fewer since January 5, 2017 against Missouri-St. Louis.
 
Ajay Lawton's 16 points is his second-highest of the season, and the senior is now averaging 17.0 points per game through the team's four contests.
 
Eric Davidson went a perfect two-for-two from the free throw line tonight, increasing his season-long streak to 18 consecutive made and team-leading 1.000 percent (18-for-18). Davidson is already the leader by a wide margin in program history at 94.2 percent.
 
UP NEXT
The Hounds battle the Tiffin Dragons tomorrow afternoon from Sherrill Hudson Court in Ashland. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. The Dragons face Kentucky State tonight in the second game of the Ashland University Thanksgiving Classic.