CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio – The Asbury University men's basketball team fell short at Ohio Christian 86-81 on Saturday afternoon in River States Conference play.

Inside the matchup
Asbury drops to 6-12 (0-5, RSC) and has lost four consecutive games.
Ohio Christian improves to 5-12 (2-3, RSC) with the victory. 

Highlights
*A quick offensive start gave the early edge to AU at 12-2.
*However, Ohio Christian ended the half on a 22-8 run to give them a 49-41 lead at the break.
*OCU dominated the rebounding edge 45-24 on Saturday, and also capitalized on effective free throw shooting (23-31).
*The second half saw seven lead changes, including a 61-57 lead for Asbury, their largest lead in the second half.
*Ohio Christian retook the lead for good, holding off a late charge from Asbury in the closing minutes. 
*AU cut the lead down to one possession with one minute left, but missed three free throws in the final 60 seconds, which hurt their chances at forcing overtime. 
*Three Eagles finished in double figures scoring, and AU out-scored OCU 40-37 in the second half, but were unable to pull off the comeback.

Key Stats
*Desmond Duke led Asbury in scoring with 18 points and a team-high six assists.
*Eric Powell scored 17 points on 60 percent shooting (6-10) and was also 4-6 from behind the arc.
*Jamiel Goliday recorded a career-high 16 points on 6-13 shooting from the floor.
*Leander Ridgeway posted nine points and five rebounds.
*Drew Delatte finished with seven rebounds and four rebounds.
*Ohio Christian out-rebounded AU by a heavy 45-24 margin. 
*Asbury shot 41 percent from the field and knocked down 11 threes
*The Eagles scored 14 points off of turnovers and accumulated seven second-chance points.
*AU totaled 31 points off the bench and shot 14-23 from the free throw line.

Next Up
Asbury is back in play at Midway on Thursday at 7:30 PM.