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Ichabod veteran Christiansen excited for Senior Day while focused on late-season push
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Brady Christiansen is the unquestioned elder statesman for Washburn University men's basketball, taking the court in 120 games while helping the Ichabods celebrate a pair of MIAA regular-season championships as a well as a trip to the NCAA Division II Final Four last season.
Washburn senior Brady Christiansen cuts down the nets in Lee Arena Wednesday night, celebrating Washburn's second straight MIAA regular-season title. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
But to Christiansen, a 6-foot-7 senior forward who is one of four Washburn seniors who will be honored Saturday when the No. 3-ranked Ichabods, 27-1 overall, 17-1 MIAA, will face Missouri Southern (16-11, 10-8) in a 1 p.m. game on Senior Day, it sometimes seems like he just arrived on campus.
"I'm not going to lie, it feels like I was just a freshman not too long ago,'' Christiansen said. "It went by that fast and I blinked and it's Senior Day. It's really hard to believe its here.''
Christiansen has been a solid contributor since he arrived on campus and is proud of what he and the Ichabods have been able to accomplish over the past four seasons.
"I'm grateful for my time here, what I put in, but also getting the program put in the right hands,'' he said. "My ultimate goal is just to leave the program better than when I got here and I couldn't be more grateful for my teammates, everybody else and we're not done yet.''
Christiansen has helped Washburn win back-to-back MIAA regular-season championships in addition to last season's regional championship and Final Four appearance and said he knows he'll appreciate the Ichabods' accomplishments more and more as time goes on.
"In the moment it really feels good, but five, 10 years down the road when you're looking at the ring, that's when you're really going to be like, 'Wow, that team was special, what we did was special,' and hopefully we just keep this going and we've got three things left to do (MIAA Tournament, regionals and nationals).''
Christiansen will be honored Saturday along with fellow seniors Sam Ungashick, Bryson Smith and Isaiah Saams-Hoy.
Ungashick is in his third season with the Ichabods after playing his freshman year at Benedictine while Smith and Saams-Hoy are in their first seasons at Washburn.
Washburn is coming off a dominant 88-49 MIAA win over Pittsburg State on Wednesday night in Lee Arena, improving to 27-1 and 17-1 in the conference with their 28th straight home victory.
The Ichabods put up 44 points in each half while holding the Gorillas to 34 percent shooting, winning their 11th game in a row over Pitt State.
Sophomore Dillon Claussen led Washburn with a game-high 23 points on 9 of 15 shooting while adding five rebounds and two blocked shots.
Junior Jack Bachelor scored 13 points with eight assists, seven rebounds and three steals against the Gorillas while sophomore Marcus Glock finished with 15 points off the bench, hitting five 3-pointers.
Junior Jeremiah Jones set Washburn's single-season steals record in Wednesday's 88-49 win over Pittsburg State in Lee Arena. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Junior Jeremiah Jones scored eight points with three steals, breaking the Washburn single-season steals record of 82 set by Will McNeill during the 2012-13 season.
The Ichabods will wrap up the regular season on Saturday against the Lions, with the men's game followed by a 3 o'clock women's game between the Ichabods and Missouri Southern.
Missiouri Southern's men are coming off a 95-69 MIAA loss at Central Missouri on Wednesday night.
Washburn women's basketball to honor standout quartet on Senior Day
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn seniors Gabi Giovannetti, Yibari Nwidadah, Payton Sterk and Aniah Wayne will be honored before Saturday's 3 p.m. game against Missouri Southern in Lee Arena. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]Four Washburn players finished in double figures in Wednesday's win over Pittsburg State. Wayne led the way with 11 points on 3-4 shooting from 3-point range while Giovannetti had 10 along with seven rebounds, junior Britany Kogbara had 10 with two blocks and sophomore Brooke Gomez added 10 points as well.
Washburn leads the all-time series with Missouri Southern, 54-37. The Ichabods are 30-14 against Missouri Southern in Topeka.
Dayne Johnson sets Silver Lake career scoring record
By VINCE LOVERGINE
TopSports.news
At the 2:02 mark of the second quarter Thursday night, Silver Lake senior Dayne Johnson drove to the bucket down the left baseline and drew a foul, needing just one more point to pass the legendary Lon Kruger for the Silver Lake all-time scoring record that’s been held for 56 years at 1,636.
Senior Dayne Johnson (2) poses for a picture with his teammates after becoming Silver Lake's career scoring leader Thursday night. [Photo by Vince Lovergine/TSN]
After making the first of two free throws, Johnson surpassed Kruger at 1,637 on the way to a 24-point night as Silver Lake routed Maranatha Academy 65-25 in a Class 3A sub-state quarterfinal.
The game was paused and there was a rousing ovation for Johnson as he waved to the crowd and the student section several times with a big smile on his face.
Not to mention, before he passed Lon Kruger, he passed his own coach, Shannon Kruger, who was No. 2 on the list at 1,511 before the season began.
“It’s awesome,'' Johnson said. "I had my eyes on it a little bit, but I couldn’t have been here without my teammates and coaches. It’s awesome how good this school is to officially be the leader.”
Johnson said he knew it was a realistic goal about 10 games in, and if he did get close, he wanted to break the record on his home court. He chuckled and said he was mad that he didn’t break the record on and-one, but he said a free throw is just as good.
“He can score at every level,” Kruger said. “When we knew the next bucket was the record-setter and then he got fouled and us coaches joked like, ‘Well, this is what makes him really good too.’ He gets to the free throw line, not only does he get there, he makes most of them. He’s so hard to guard.”
Kruger said athletes like Johnson don’t come around too often, and he’s grateful to be a part of his journey.
“He’s a special kid,” Kruger said. “You have to do a lot of the other things right to get the opportunity to play enough to score that many. He does everything right.
"He’s the hardest worker. We’re doing a defensive or rebounding drill, he’s going full speed every time even though he’s a senior and he knows he’s the dude, you wouldn’t be able to tell that in practice. He fits in the best way you can.”
Kruger had a minor speech after the game congratulating Johnson as the crowd overheard and he called Johnson the GOAT.
“The record stood for 56 years and there've been a lot of good players that have come through during that time and no one else has the record so how is he not the GOAT?” Kruger said with a smile.
“He (Shannon) was a great player and Hall of Famer at Washburn, so it means a lot coming from a guy like him,” Johnson said.
Johnson scored 10 of the first 18 points in the first quarter as the Eagles punched their ticket to the semifinals with the 40-point win.
After the game Silver Lake played an audio message of Lon Kruger congratulating Johnson on his accomplishment and he got the game ball and all of his teammates signed it after.
"It was awesome,'' Johnson said. "He was an awesome player and probably better than I was, NBA coach, college coach. It’s cool that he still gives back to the community and still cares about Silver Lake where he came from.''
From the get-go Thursday, the Eagles couldn’t miss from anywhere.
Junior Camden Kruger, who scored eight points, started the scoring with a triple and the rout was on. The Eagles started on a 9-0 run and pushed it to 12-3 after a Joel Miller trey. Miller ended with nine points.
Johnson converted an and-one making it 18-3 and Silver Lake led 23-3 after one.
The Eagles held Maranatha to just five points in the half and Silver Lake led 41-5 going into halftime.
It was more of the same in the third quarter, as Miller and Johnson hit a three apiece, bringing the advantage to 47-9 and the Eagles led 59-19 at the end of the third quarter.
