By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University's Saturday home MIAA contest against No. 12-ranked Northwest Missouri went down to the final seconds, but after 15 lead changes and six ties the Bearcats pulled out a 75-72 win in Lee Arena.
Junior Michael Keegan led Washburn with 16 points in Saturday's 75-72 MIAA loss to Northwest Missouri. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
The two teams were tied with 2:47 to play after a pair of made free throws by Washburn junior Andrew Orr but Northwest junior Andrew Mascari, who was a thorn in the Ichabods' side all day, hit one of his nine 3-pointers on the afternoon to put the Bearcats up 69-66 with 2:18 remaining.
Northwest pushed their lead to four at 71-67, but the Ichabods cut the lead back to one after a layup by sophomore Brady Christiansen with 14 seconds to play.
After an Ichabod foul, Northwest hit two free throws to go up four but a 3-pointer by junior Michael Keegan cut the lead to one with six seconds to play at 73-72.
Northwest hit a layup with four seconds left to go up three and Washburn's 3-pointer at the buzzer missed as the Ichabods fell for the first time at home this season.
Mascari led the Bearcats (19-4 overall, 15-2 MIAA) with a game-high 27 points on nine of 12 shooting from 3-point range.
"They had an unbelievable individual performance,'' Washburn coach Brett Ballard said. "Give credit to Mascari, (No.) 22. It was one of the best shooting performances I've ever seen.
"I thought we played hard, played a little tight and missed a bunch of free throws and once again didn't shoot it great. Transition opportunities really, really killed momentum. We had four or five transition layup opportunities and we don't convert and then it seemed like every time we didn't convert they came down and made a big shot. Those are big four and five-point swings, so those really hurt us.''
Northwest shot 58.3 percent from 3-point range as a team (14 of 24) while Washburn went seven of 18 from outside the arc.
Bennett Stirtz added 19 points for the Wildcats and Daniel Abreu and Byron Alexander each had 10.
Washburn (15-8, 11-6 MIAA) led 39-38 at the break after trailing by as many as eight in the first half, using a 9-0 run toward the end of the half.
Washburn was led by Keegan's 16 points, which included a three of three performance on 3-point attempts, and Keegan added 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals.
Freshman Jack Bachelor and Orr both had 12 points for the Ichabods.
Washburn will be back in action next Saturday at Central Oklahoma.
Senior Aubree Dewey scored a game-high 20 points for Washburn in Saturday's 62-50 MIAA loss to Northwest Missouri. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Bearcats ride late burst to 62-50 win over Ichabods
Washburn led into the second half, but an offensive burst from Northwest Missouri State was too much to overcome Saturday afternoon in a 62-50 MIAA loss.
The Bearcats (18-5 overall, 12-5 MIAA) jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the first two minutes.
After trailing 11-6 with 3:23 left in the quarter Washburn (11-12, 6-11 MIAA) scored the final eight points of the stanza, capped by two free throws from senior Aubree Dewey in the final seconds of the quarter.
Washburn extended the lead to seven with the first four points of the second quarter and held on to go into the halftime break with a 24-23 lead.
The Bearcats retook the lead with the first basket of the third quarter but Washburn quickly took it back and led by as many as four three times, the final time coming after Yibari Nwidadah sunk a pair of free throws with 3:56 left in the third.
Northwest got going offensively, scoring the last nine points of the quarter while shooting 8-12 in the third to lead 41-36 going into the fourth.
Northwest pushed its lead to eight early in the fourth quarter, but a pair of jumpers from Dewey and a layup by Nwidadah cut WU's deficit down two with 5:42 left.
Dewey got another jumper to go with 4:48 left, but just like the quarter before, the Bearcats got hot offensively, going on a 10-1 run over the next four minutes. The lead didn't reach double figures until the final minute when it got up to as many as the final 12-point margin.
The Ichabods shot just 18-63 in the game (28.6 percent) while Northwest Missouri was 22-52 (42.3). Washburn stayed in the game with 14 offensive rebounds and by winning the turnover battle, 17-12, but they shot just 1-19 from behind the arc in the loss.
Dewey led all players with 20 points while Nwidadah had 11 points and six rebounds off the bench. No other player had more than six for Washburn.
Three Bearcats finished in double figures, led by Caely Kesten and Molly Hartnett with 16 points apiece.
The Ichabods will play at Central Oklahoma next Saturday.
