Eli Gambill scored 12 points and helped keep Starmount out of the lane for much of the night, leading Ashe to a 38-36 thrilling win over the Rams.
Starmount scored first on a layup from Ben Combs. Ashe then reeled off 10 straight with four points from Gambill, a layup from Seth Sheets, a free throw from Johnathan Cox and a long three-pointer by Sam Bowers that forced a quick Starmount timeout.
The Rams came back from a quick talk with the coaching staff and ended the quarter on a 6-2 spurt. James Ashley hit a pair from the charity stripe, Dalton Vestal and Josh Houser scored a basket inside the lane before Gambill ended the quarter on a jumper, giving Ashe a 12-8 advantage.
In the second quarter, teams traded baskets early on. Gambill scored four more and Sheets hit a short jumper for Ashe. Starmount got baskets from Houser, Combs and Isaiah Billips. The Rams closed the frame with five straight to take its first lead of the night, a 22-20 advantage at the half.
Ashe quickly battled back early in the second half to retake the lead. Anderson Moore scored six big points to help move Ashe in front, 34-31.
The Huskies only scored four points in the fourth quarter, but the defense was up to the task to keep the Rams from getting the victory.
Zach Worley hit a free throw for Starmount to make the score 34-32. Cox followed that with a drive to the basket for a layup to push the Ashe lead to four. Houser scored four straight points to knot things up at 36-36.
With a minute remaining, Cox drove to the basket for another contested layup. This one fell through to put Ashe on top 38-36.
With five seconds left, Ashe had a chance to ice the game at the free throw line. However, the first attempt of the one-and-one bounced off the rim, but guard Alex Laws was there to snag the offensive rebound, and passed the ball back towards mid-court where the time would run out on the Rams.
Gambill was Ashe’s high scorer with 12. Moore finished with six points, Cox had five, Sheets added four and Zach Lawrence had four. Bowers finished with three, Laws had two and Jordan Spell had two as well.
Houser had 11 points for the Rams and Combs finished with seven.
Ashe improved its record to 2-4 overall and picked up its first Mountain Valley Athletic Conference victory.
The Huskies will look for back-to-back MVAC wins this Friday as they host the East Wilkes Cardinals.
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