Heading into Tuesday’s games, three teams in the MVAC stood with only one conference loss, Starmount, North Surry, and Ashe County. With the conference race being so close, every game is vital for the Huskies, including the match-up with their conference rival, the Wilkes Central Eagles. On top of the rivalry, the Eagles are battling for their position in the fight atop the conference as they stood in fourth place entering the game. The Huskies knew entering the game of the significance of it and did not crumble under the pressure, and solid defense in the fourth quarter allowed the Huskies to pull out a powerful 72-56 victory over the Eagles.

The Huskies and Eagles were even throughout the entire game, but with the stellar performance of center Tommy Spagnolo, and a deadly effective defense in the fourth quarter, was Ashe able to win. Spagnolo, a junior playing his second year at the varsity level, had a game high 37 points to give the Huskies a second-half comeback from a deficit of four points at the half. On top of his career high 37 points, Spagnolo kept the Husky crowd in the game with a breath taking four dunks, the first time for a Husky in the school’s history.

Spagnolo has been a vital component of the Huskies’ offense thus far in the season. Looking back over the schedule, the Huskies’ either closest games, or key games of the schedule thus far in the season, Tommy has been the key component for the Huskies’ offense. The six games that I am referring to the two Watauga games, Charlotte Catholic during the Colvard Oil Tournament, Starmount, North Surry and Wilkes Central. Throughout the six games, the Huskies victories have been totaled up to 41 points, and Spagnolo has tallied up 137 points during the six games. He’s averaging an impressive 22.8 points each game to be an explosive part of Ashe’s offense.

To open the game again Wilkes Central, the Huskies came out fast against the Eagles jumping out to a quick 11-2 lead, and then the Eagles came back to narrow the score to a six-point spread, 16-10, at the end of the first quarter. Central then outscored the Huskies 26-16 in the second quarter to take a 36-32 lead into the halftime intermission.

The third quarter was a repeat of the start of the first quarter; Ashe started on a sprinting offensive attack and immediately eliminated the Eagles’ lead. The Huskies tied the score up at 36-36 with a crowd electrifying dunk from Spagnolo off of a pass from Daniel Waln, and then on the very next possession, Spagnolo once again brought the Husky fans to their feet with another dunk, his third of the game to give Ashe the lead. The Huskies were able to stretch that two-point lead by a point at the end of the third quarter to lead 51-48 at the end of the third quarter.

At the start of the fourth quarter, the Huskies switched to a 1-3-1 half-court trap and the Eagles could not figure a way to break through the Huskies’ defense. Ashe held the Eagles to only eight points in the fourth quarter with the 1-3-1 zone and Ashe poured out twenty-one points to cruise to the 72-56 victory.

Daniel Waln was a major factor to the Huskies’ success in the fourth quarter by scoring eight points in the quarter, for a total of ten points in the game. Tatum Lemly added nine points, and Jordan Nichols had an impressive game with six points. Tavin Holman scored four points, Tucker Clay added three points, and Ryan Moser rounded out the scoring with two points. Ashe forced the Eagles into twenty-three turnovers by recording seventeen steals and recoveries. Ashe also out rebounded the Eagles 23-17 in the victory.

The win puts Ashe tied with Starmount and North Surry atop the leader board in the MVAC. Ashe needs to win out the remainder of the conference schedule to claim the MVAC Regular Season conference title. The two key games will be on the road at Starmount, and then hosting North Surry. In the first round of the conference action, the Huskies had a devastating loss by a mere three points, 57-54 loss to Starmount, which is there only loss of the season. The Huskies rebounded, and are on an eleven game winning streak, which includes a 62-50 victory over North Surry on the road and Ashe now stands at 15-1, 5-1 in conference.

With only seven games remaining in the season, the Huskies have one non-conference game, a make-up game with Avery, and then the six conference games. For the Huskies, every game is important, and Ashe starts their run for the title in the second half of the conference schedule this Friday night by hosting the Surry Central Golden Eagles.