By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The No. 3-ranked Washburn University men opened MIAA play with a bang Thursday night, recording the largest margin of victory in the 50-game series with Nebraska-Kearney in an 87-52 road win.
Washburn sophomore Jack Bachelor scored 19 points to lead the way in the Ichabods' 87-52 win at Nebraska-Kearney Thursday night. [File photo/TSN]
The Ichabods (8-0 overall, 1-0 MIAA) trailed 3-0 after the Lopers (1-6, 0-1) hit a long jumper. Then, after a 3-pointer by WU's Jack Bachelor tied the score, the Lopers took a 5-3 lead, but the Ichabods used a 17-1 run over the next 6:07 of the contest to take a 20-6 lead as Washburn was 7 of 10 during the stretch while the Ichabod defense held the Lopers to 0-7 shooting from the field.
The Lopers used an 8-0 run to cut Washburn's lead to 28-10 with 7:17 to play in the first half before Washburn used another double-digit run, outscoring the Lopers 10-0 to go up 20 before taking a 44-26 lead into the break.
Bachelor hit back-to-back 3-pointers early in the second half to push Washburn's lead to 23.
The Lopers connected on two more jumpers before the Ichabods ripped off another big run of 17-3, going up by 33 with 8:57 left.
After the final media timeout, Bachelor connected on another 3-pointer and Jake Schadegg hit two treys of his own 28 seconds apart, giving Washburn its 11th 3-pointer on the evening as the Ichabods rolled to the 35-point win.
The 35-point win topped the previous series victory margin of 31 in an 89-58 win over the Lopers on Jan. 16, 2019 in Topeka.
Washburn snapped a three-game MIAA-opener losing streak with the win over the Lopers, recording its first win in its league lid-lifter since 2020.
Bachelor's 19 points was a game high as the Washburn Rural product finished 5 of 8 from 3-point range.
Brayden Shorter had 16 points with four 3-pointers while Jacob Hanna had 15 points with seven boards and three assists.
Schadegg had 10 points off the bench and Dillon Claussen just missed a double-double with nine points and eight rebounds.
Andrew Orr scored eight points, leaving himself one point away from becoming the 28th Ichabod to reach 1,000 career points.
The Lopers were led by Chase Thompson, who had 16 points.
Washburn finished the game 31 of 58 from the field for a 53 percent clip while the Ichabods held the Lopers to 17 of 52 shooting overall at 33 percent. Washburn was 11 of 27 from deep and hit 14 of 18 from the charity stripe.
Washburn dominated the glass, out-rebounding the Lopers 41 to 24 and turning 10 offensive boards into 17 points while outscoring the Lopers 40-18 in the paint and 19-2 in fastbreak points.
The Ichabods will continue MIAA play on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Fort Hays State.
