ASHLAND With daughter in one arm and a trumpet in the other, Ashland band director Chris Whelan made his task at hand during the Tomcats performance of the National Anthem look easy.
When Ashland took the floor Tuesday night against Fairview, the Tomcats followed his lead as they cruised to an 85-35 district win at Anderson Gymnasium.
“We were a little rough early,” Ashland coach Jason Mays said. “We were a little flat and we were flat in practice yesterday. Yesterday was our worst practice of the year. But they got their rhythm and defense started leading to offense and that’s our mojo. We get hands on balls defensively and we get out and start to score points.”
Fairview added the first two points to start the contest on a pair of Steven Day freebies. But once Ashland found its flow, the Tomcats rolled off nine straight and had a 21-8 lead after one quarter and had a 41-17 lead at the break.
After a slow start by both teams, an Ethan Sellars triple gave the Tomcats the lead for good while igniting a 9-0 run in the span of less than one minute prompting a Fairview timeout. Out of the break, a Day bucket looked to have Fairview back on track only to see Ashland roll off an 8-0 run capped off by a Zander Carter triple for a 19-4 edge.
“We got lucky early because (Ashland) weren’t shooting it at a high percentage,” Fairview coach Roger Newton said. “When you miss bunny layups from two, four feet out, it’s like a turnover. They get the rebound and are going the other way and we are all sucked in trying to do stuff.”
Fairview shot 34.1% (14-31) from the field while missing all six trifectas attempted. The Eagles claimed only 18 rebounds in the game, but seven came on the offensive glass while rarely leading to points.
“You can’t miss bunnies when you have opportunities against good teams,” Newton said. “We didn’t finish. We didn’t take care of the ball. We telegraphed every pass in the first half. I’m disappointed in our effort. We talked a good game. We weren’t ready to back it up with our actions tonight.”
With 6:30 to play in the third quarter, Asher Adkins snatched an errant pass from the Eagles and went coast-to-coast for the bucket to start a running clock the rest of the way.
“We didn’t follow our game plan,” Newton said. “We had posts (players) standing in the lane and letting Atkins stand out here wide open in the corner for 3s. They have to get out and honor him and we have to get backside help. Our rotations were not good. We just had a bad night all around.”
Carter led the Tomcats with 18 points, 12 in the second half. He went 4 for 6 from downtown while Ashland hit 13 triples in the win.
“Zander is going to lead us in rebounding this year and his shot gets better every day,” Mays said. “He just needs to understand that making a 3-pointer doesn’t get him going. There’s other ways of getting going like attacking the rim or getting a steal or a good block out or assist. I think he’s starting to mature a little bit and learning that there’s other ways of getting himself going than just hitting a shot.”
Ryan Atkins paced the Tomcats with 12 points at the half while grabbing six rebounds. Sellars kicked in 10 of his 12 before the break and finished with six assists. Ashland assisted on 17 of its 34 made baskets.
“It’s called one more freedom,” Mays said when given the number of assists for the Tomcats. “I let you play with freedom if you make that one more pass. So, it’s a give and take between them and me. Then we also say your shot is our shot. So, be accountable for your shot selection.”
Jaxon Manning finished with 19 points for the Eagles while shooting only five free throws in the game.
“I’m kind of confused because the first game of the year (Greenup County) coach Steve Barker made a comment about him taking more free throws and after that, he goes in and gets killed every night and we don’t get calls,” Newton said of Manning. “So, I’m trying to figure it out that maybe if I say something now about him not getting calls, maybe he will get some free throws.”
Ashland travels to Louisville Fairdale beginning Saturday for the King of the Bluegrass tournament. Fairview welcomes Augusta Friday night at 7:30 p.m.
FAIRVIEW FG FT REB TP
Johnson 1-6 0-0 2 2
Manning 7-14 5-5 5 19
Caldwell 0-4 0-0 3 0
Day 3-8 2-2 5 8
Harper 2-3 0-0 0 4
Mitchell 0-0 0-0 0 0
Muncy 1-3 0-0 1 2
Terry 0-0 0-0 1 0
Smith 0-2 0-0 1 0
Mervilus 0-0 0-0 0 0
Reihs 0-0 0-0 0 0
Sparks 0-0 0-0 0 0
Harper 0-0 0-0 0 0
TOTAL 14-41 7-7 18 35
FG Pct.: 34.1. FT Pct.: 100. 3-pointers: 0-6 (Day 0-1, Manning 0-2, Smith 0-1, Munch 0-1, Terry 0-1). PF:6. Fouled out: None. Turnovers: 19.
ASHLAND FG FT REB TP
Carter 6-11 2-4 3 18
Porter 2-8 2-2 1 6
Atkins 5-8 0-0 8 12
Sellars 4-7 2-2 1 12
Adkins 4-7 0-0 4 9
T. Davis 4-6 0-0 4 9
Padron 3-3 0-0 6 6
Thacker 2-4 0-0 6 5
Conway 1-1 0-0 0 3
C. Davis 0-0 0-0 0 0
Mayor 1-6 0-0 3 3
Williams 0-0 0-0 0 0
Troxler 1-1 0-0 0 2
Jackson 0-0 0-0 0 0
TOTAL 33-62 6-8 36 85
FG Pct.: 53.2. FT Pct.: 75.0. 3-pointers: 13-28 (Carter 4-6, Adkins 1-2, Sellars 2-4, Atkins 2-4, T. Davis 1-2, Porter 0-4, Conway 1-1, Thacker 1-2, Mayor 1-3). PF: 9. Fouled out: None. Turnovers: 12.
FAIRVIEW 8 9 14 4 — 35
ASHLAND 21 25 24 15 — 85
OFFICIALS: Dave Wheeler, Justin Royster, Brian Taylor
