FSU Suffers First League Loss Of Season At Ashland

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University men's basketball squad could not duplicate its effort from its Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) opener as the Bulldogs suffered a 71-49 loss to Ashland on Saturday (Dec. 1) at Kates Gymnasium.

The Bulldogs, who topped Lake Erie by a 80-74 overtime score in its first GLIAC game on Thursday night, fell to the host Eagles to wrap up a two-game road trip to Ohio.

The game started approximately 15 minutes late due to the fact two officials arrived at the wrong location and two replacements had to be found.  The late start, though, didn't seem to faze the hosts.

Ashland bolted out to a 10-point halftime advantage and increased its advantage to as many as 25 points with 1:45 remaining in holding off the Bulldogs, who fell to 2-3 overall and 1-1 in the GLIAC.  AU improved to 2-2 overall this season and evened its conference record at 1-1 on the year.

Senior forward Daniel Sutherlin (Detroit/Renaissance) paced the Bulldogs with 18 points in the game and seven rebounds in 34 minutes of action.  However, he was the only FSU player to reach double-digit scoring in the contest.

FSU also received seven points from freshman guard Jibreel Jackson (Detroit/Curie) in addition to six points each by redshirt freshman center Jared Stolicker (Middleville/Thornapple-Kellogg) and senior guard Kenny Brown (Farmington Hills/Harrison).

The Bulldogs were limited to only 32% shooting for the game and were two-of-12 (16.7%) behind the three-point stripe along with 15-of-22 (68.2%) at the line.

Meanwhile, Ashland was led by Evan Yates' game-high 27 points and 12 rebounds.  He made nine-of-10 shots from the floor and connected on nine-of-13 free throws.

The Eagles converted at a 53.3% clip for the day and were six-of-15 (40%) behind the three-point line in addition to 17-of-25 (68%) at the charity stripe.

Ashland held a slim 34-32 rebounding edge and outscored FSU 14-12 in second chance production despite the fact the Bulldogs had 12 offensive caroms to only seven for the Eagles.

Ferris State forced 11 turnovers defensively and had only nine of its own.  FSU also came up with six steals and two blocked shots to only one block and steal for Ashland.  AU held a 14-7 advantage in total assists.

Ashland led most of the contest as the only FSU lead was by a single point with 16:14 to go in the opening half of play.

The victory was Ashland's first over the Bulldogs since 2007.

The Bulldogs will return to action next week at FSU's Jim Wink Arena.  FSU hosts Ohio Dominican on Thursday, Dec. 6, at 6 p.m. (ET) and will then square off against Tiffin at home in league play on Saturday, Dec. 8, beginning at 1 p.m. (ET).