ASHLAND, Ohio -- The Wayne State University men's basketball team (2-13 overall, 2-10 GLIAC) traveled back to Ohio on Saturday to meet division leader Ashland (13-5, 7-5 GLIAC) and the Eagles claimed a 73-59 win.
 
AU jumped out to a 5-0 lead early in the first half powered by a conventional three-point play from DaWuan Thomas at the 19:20 mark forcing head coach David Greer to use a timeout.
 
The 30-second timeout seemed to help the Warriors regain some focus as WSU trimmed deficit to one, 9-8, after a Marcus Moore (Lansing, Mich. / Waverly) layup at the 16-minute mark. Chuck Key (Detroit, Mich. / Cass Tech) followed with a bucket to give the visitors a 10-9 advantage.
 
Ashland responded with a 9-2 run to take an 18-12 lead with 10:49 left before halftime. The home lead reached double-digits at the 6:57 mark as the Eagles took a 26-15 lead.
 
Back-to-back three-pointers from Michael Lewis (Ann Arbor, Mich. / Huron) and Gavin Toma (Troy, Mich. / Southfield Christian) brought WSU within six, 33-27, at the 2:33 mark.
 
Wayne State went scoreless the rest of the half and went into the break trailing 39-27. Toma led WSU with seven points at intermission, while Ashland's Wendell Davis led all scorers with 11 points.
 
WSU started the second half strong and tied the game at 44-44 at the 12:22 mark after Toma scored seven consecutive Warrior points during a 7-2 run. The Eagles again were able to answer and regained the lead, 53-46, at the nine-minute mark.
 
Daniel Ball (Dearborn Heights, Mich. / Allen Park Cabrini) connected from deep to cut the deficit to three, 55-52, with seven minutes to play. However, that would be as close as the Warriors would get the rest of the way.
 
Toma finished with a team-high 19 points while Chuck Key (Detroit, Mich. / Cass Tech) chipped in 11 points and eight rebounds. Lewis matched a game-high with 10 boards.
 
Wendell Davis powered AU to the win with 26 points and 10 rebounds.

The Warriors will complete their stretch of six away contests in a seven-game span with a Thursday night tilt at Malone.  Tip-off is slated for 8 p.m. following the women's contest.