By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Washburn men's basketball season came to end Sunday in the NCAA Central Region semifinals with the Ichabods dropping a 70-55 loss to familiar MIAA rival Northwest Missouri in their fourth meeting of the season.
"I'm proud of our guys,'' Washburn coach Brett Ballard said. "We could have gave in a couple of times in that game, but we battled back. We didn't play our best obviousely. They had a lot to do with that, but we battled.
"I thought we played hard, got back in the game. We got it (to four) and just couldn't quite get over that hump. They made plays and we didn't.''
Freshman Michael Keegan led Washburn with 16 points in the Ichabods' 70-55 NCAA Tournament loss to Northwest Missouri Sunday. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Offensively the Ichabods, who finished the season 22-11, were limited in the first half as they were held to 9 of 28 shooting with six of their nine field goals coming from 3-point range.
The Bearcats took a 41-27 lead into the break after hitting 12 of 22 shots overall and going 7 of 10 from 3-point range and hitting 10 of 11 free throws.
Washburn trailed by as many as 21 points in the opening half before cutting the margin to 14.
In the second half, the Ichabods trimmed the lead down to four at 46-42 with 10:06 to play on a layup by Jalen Lewis, capping an 9-1 Ichabod run with a traditional 3-point play.
On the Bearcats' next possession, Luke Walters connected on a 3-pointer to push the difference to seven, but a Jonny Clausing layup cut the lead to five at 49-45 with 7:21 to go.
The Bearcats then would connect on a 3-pointer and an Ichabod foul on the attempt away from the shot gave Northwest Missouri two more free throws, doubling the Ichabod deficit.
Washburn again came back to hit a pair of jumpers and cut the lead to six on a layup by Michael Keegan at 54-48 but the Ichabods did not get any closer.
Keegan led the Ichabods with 16 points on 6 of 8 shooting while hitting 1 of 2 3-point attempts. Lewis had 14 points and Clausing finished with 10 points and a team-high six rebounds. Tyler Geiman dished out nine assists.
Northwest's Diego Bernard scored 18 points to take game-high honors while Wes Dreamer scored 16 and Isaiah Jackson 13.
Washburn finished the game shooting 22 of 54 from the field, 7 of 22 from deep and hitting four of six shots from the free throw line.
Northwest hit 41 percent from the field, going 18 of 44 with 9 of 21 from deep and 25 of 28 from the free throw line.
Washburn made its 16th NCAA tournament appearance and its fourth in five years under Ballard.
The Ichabods are 16-16 all-time in the NCAA Tournament in 16 previous appearances and reached the NCAA Championship game once during the 2001 season, falling to Kentucky Wesleyan, 72-63.
Washburn recorded the program's 30th 20-win season and the fourth under Ichabod head coach with the win over Central Oklahoma in the MIAA Tournament semifinals.
"I'm proud of our seniors especially,'' Ballard said. "They've taken us on an incredible journey this year. We won some games against some really good teams this year and I'm proud of how much this team has grown and we'll certainly miss those guys.''
