Grayson Steury scores 1,000th point in 38-point effort to lift Ashland
ASHLAND — On a night when 3s were flying like no tomorrow and Grayson Steury etched his name in the record books, it took a solid defensive effort in the final quarter for Ashland to earn its first victory on the season as they took down Clyde 71-60 Saturday night in Arrow Arena.
Steury, who meshed a triple with 1:54 to play in the first quarter to give him 1,000 points for his career, helped fuel the Ashland (1-4) charge with a game-high 38 points, which included a handful of 3s and a 13-of-15 showing at the free-throw line.
“It’s awesome it’s our first win of the year, so I was really glad I could hit the mark in a win, and it’s good for the guys too,” said Steury, who also pocketed four steals. “We started out the year 0-4, we really needed a win, and I think our guys came out with a lot of energy tonight, and we kept fighting, got back in the game and got the 'W.'”
Clyde (0-3) held a 38-30 lead at the half and led 54-48 after three quarters as the Fliers were being boosted by the hot 3-point shooting of Brayden Olson, (30 points, 8 3-pointers), and Brennan Wilson (16 points).
But Ashland came out strong defensively in the fourth quarter, forcing seven of Clyde’s 14 turnovers. Leading the defensive charge was Ashland senior Wyatt Mohrman (2 points), who did a yeoman’s job on Olson.
“Wyatt’s kind of been our energy guy all year, and we were struggling there, and we asked Wyatt if he could guard Olson, and he said, ‘Yeah, coach. I’ve got him,'” said Ashland coach Jason Hess. “In the fourth quarter we gave up only six points and I thought we did a much better job defensively. Our guys stayed connected to their shooters a little better, made things difficult for them, we limited them to one shot, and offensively we were able to get out and go a little bit.
“And I thought we were aggressive enough to get the bonus there and made our free throws.”
Ashland connected on 22 of 27 free throws, with freshman Nathan Bernhard going 5-of-6. He and Steury each made four apiece in the fourth quarter and Bernhard ended with nine points, 15 rebounds, a pair of blocked shots and intimidated the Fliers when they dared to enter the paint.
“Just get the boards, do the defense, chip in so we can get some buckets, and finish down low,” Bernhard said when asked about his role, adding forcing seven turnovers in the final eight minutes was a big key in the win. “Huge. To get stops on a team like that. They were hot in the second quarter. To hold them to under 10 points in the fourth quarter was huge.
“We just have to play together, play with energy, and things will go our way.”
Also playing well for Ashland were seniors Keslar Bates (7 points, 6 rebounds), freshman Gabe Baith (5 points), and senior Landon McFrederick (4 points).
Clyde sank 21 of 44 field shots for 48%, with Ashland going 22-of-57 for 38%. The Arrow defense forced 14 turnovers, and Ashland committed just four, all in the first half.
Hess said it was great for Steury to go over 1,000 points for his career, but the team win was most important.
“It’s an important milestone, and I don’t know how many there are in school history but there’s not very many, so it’s a pretty small club to be in and Grayson is a tremendous high school player and I’m super proud of him,” Hess said. “And I thought Nathan did a really nice job of rebounding the basketball, being active and not fouling. He had 15 rebounds, but he kept a lot more alive that we were able to collect and was really big for us.”
This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Boys Basketball: Steury scores 1,000th point in Ashland's first win
