HOUGHTON, Mich. -- Strong field goal shooting by Ashland allowed the visiting Eagles to hold off Michigan Tech, 70-58, in the Huskies' Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener today at the SDC Gym. AU connected on 53 percent of its shots on the day, while MTU made 30 percent.

A fast start for Ashland saw it build a 14-2 lead six minutes into the game. Tech battled back to within four six minutes later on Kyle Pullen's layup, but the visitors took an eight-point margin (27-19) into halftime.

Radayl Richardson's three-point play with 15:28 left in the game energized the crowd and made the score, 36-29. Craig Genung added a bucket on the next trip down to close the gap to five, but that's as close as the Huskies would get.

The Eagles had a 15-point cushion at the 6:21 mark. MTU put on a full-court press that caused three AU turnovers in the next two minutes. Richardson's layup with 4:39 made it an eight-point game before Ashland made eight-of-12 free throws down the stretch.

Richardson finished with team highs of 20 points and eight rebounds. His 20-point output matched his career high.

Josh Makela turned in a season-high 11 points. Stephen Folson set a career high with seven rebounds.

Michigan Tech held an advantage in turnovers (16 for AU, 5 for MT) and rebounds (45 for MT and 43 for AU). The Huskies had 32 more field goal attempts than their foe, but just couldn't knock down enough of them.

MTU will return to action Thursday (Dec. 8) at Northwood, with a 7:30 p.m. tipoff.