By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University's Tyler Nelson hit his third 3-pointer of the game with :00.3 left to send the Ichabods to a 60-59 win over No. 7-ranked Northwest Missouri on Saturday afternoon in Maryville, Mo.
The win lifted the Ichabods to 17-9 overall and 14-6 in the MIAA, with Washburn winning its fourth game in a row and its third straight in Bearcat Arena over the Bearcats in the last two seasons while snapping Northwest's11-game homecourt winning streak.
Tyler Nelson's butter-beating 3-pointer gave Washburn a 60-59 win at Northwest Missouri Saturday. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
A layup by Connor Deffebaugh with 3:44 to go put the Ichabods up 54-53, but Northwest came back with a pair of free throws to go up by one with 3:16 to play.
Deffebaugh answered with another layup with 2:49 remaining. Then, after the teams traded free throws after a Northwest jumper, Northwest took a 59-57 lead with 1:39 to play.
Neither team would score again until Nelson hit the game-winner.
Northwest fell to 23-4 overall and 16-3 in league play.
Tyler Geiman scored a game-high 21 points that included 16 first-half points.
Geiman was the only Ichabod to play all 40 minutes and went 9 of 15 from the field, including 3 of 5 3-pointers.
Nelson posted nine points on 3 of 11 shooting, including the game-winner, with all coming in the second half.
Jonny Clausing recorded the eighth double double of his career and his second straight since moving into the starting lineup, scoring 12 points with 10 rebounds and a career-high six assists. Deffebaugh finished with 11 points and three steals.
Northwest's Luke Waters scored 14 of his 17 points in the first half. Waters went 6 of 11 from the floor. Waters knocked in a team-best four 3-pointers.
Former Manhattan star Trevor Hudgins added 16 points and 7 assists for the Bearcats.
Northwest bounced out to a 15-6 lead with 10:56 to play in the first half but Washburn responded with a 10-0 run to take a 16-15 lead.
The game was tied at halftime, 31-31.
Washburn held the top-scoring team in the MIAA to 59 points as Northwest finished 20 of 47 from the field while going 9 of 25 from deep and 10 of 12 from the free throw line.
Washburn shot 47 percent (25 of 53) and hit 6 of 15 3-pointers while going 4 of 8 from the free throw line.
Each team finished with 28 rebounds.
The Bearcats have won 72 of their last 75 games with all three losses coming against the Ichabods.
Washburn will be in action in Lee Arena for the final time this season on Thursday when the Ichabodss will host Missouri Southern at 7:30 p.m.
It will be the final home game for Tyler Geiman, Jalen Lewis, Jeremy Harrell, Jonny Clausing, Shannon Cordes and Isaiah Thorne.
WU WOMEN FALL IN OT, 58-53
Washburn's Macy Doebele hit the game-tying layup with two seconds left in regulation, but the Ichabods fell in overtime at Northwest Missouri on Saturday, 58-53.
The Ichabods will play their two final home games next week, beginning against Northeastern State on Tuesday.
Both offenses got off to a slow start and Northwest Missouri (16-9, 11-8 MIAA) hit a 3-pointer to lead 9-7 at the end of the first quarter.
The Bearcats scored eight unanswered points to begin the second frame to push their lead to 17-7.
Hunter Bentley
Washburn (12-13, 10-9 MIAA) put together a run of its own midway through the period when Hunter Bentley hit a layup to start a 7-0 spurt to pull within 19-18 with 3:07 left in the opening half.
After Northwest Missouri made 4 of 4 at the free throw line, Washburn scored eight of the final 11 points to even the score at 26-all at the break.
Early in the third quarter Bentley tied the score at 31 to start a 9-0 rally to put the Ichabods in front 38-31 with 3:51 on the clock. The Bearcats responded with a 7-2 run to trim the deficit to 40-38 at the end of three.
The Ichabods missed their first six shots of the fourth quarter while the Bearcats scored five points to retake the lead.
Doebele made a layup to get Washburn back within one (43-42) halfway through the quarter and the teams took turns scoring until a free throw by Abby Oliver and then another bucket by Doebele gave Washburn a 47-46 advantage with 21 seconds to go.
Northwest Missouri answered with a 3-pointer to go back in front by two with 12 seconds remaining in regulation. The Ichabods called a timeout and started their final possession with 11 seconds on the clock when Doebele made the game-tying basket just before the buzzer to send the game into overtime.
After Northwest Missouri made the first four points in overtime, Washburn made back-to-back baskets to even the score at 53. That would be the final points the Ichabods would score, though, as the Bearcats scored the final five points to capture the win.
The Ichabods finished with a 37.7 field goal percentage while the Bearcats shot 29.7 percent. WU made just 1 of 6 from 3-point distance and NWMSU was 7 of 30 from deep. The Ichabods outrebounded the Bearcats, 42-36.
Bentley played all 45 minutes and led all scorers with 26 points to go with 9 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 steals. Doebele made 6 of 10 shots from the field and tallied 14 points.
Nuria Barrientos grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds.
The Bearcats were led by Mallory McConkey's 16 points.
