By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University's men's basketball team was far from perfect shooting the ball Wednesday night, including a dismal seven of 32 showing from 3-point range.
But the Ichabods made up for that with a solid performance in other areas, including a perfect 15 of 15 night at the free throw line, to take a 70-65 MIAA win over Missouri Southern in Lee Arena.
Jack Bachelor (14) and his Washburn teammates celebrate a 3-pointer by the Ichabod freshman in Wednesday's 70-65 MIAA win over Missouri Southern. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
In a game that included eight lead changes and five ties, Washburn trailed 30-29 at the half after leading by as many as 12 points and fell behind by seven early in the second half before taking control down the stretch to improve to 11-5 overall and 7-3 in the MIAA.
"It was a game of runs and I'm really proud of our team for finding a way to win on a night we shot it miserably,'' Washburn coach Brett Ballard said.
The Lions (6-10, 4-6) rallied from an 8-point deficit to tie the game at 58-all and the game was also deadlocked at 60-60 after a Southern basket with 2:24 remaining, but freshman Jack Bachelor canned two charities with 2:11 remaining to put the Ichabods ahead to stay and WU held off Southern the rest of the way, scoring 10 of its final 12 points at the free throw line.
"I'm really proud of how we battled the last three minutes,'' Ballard said. "When they made that last run and tied it up I thought we were out of gas. We looked tired but our guys dug in and got stops and made plays late.''
Bachelor went six of six from the free throw line over the final 7:12, including the game-clinching free throws with 11 seconds left, while sophomore Brady Christiansen also went six of six at the charity stripe, with all six of his makes coming over the final 2:47 and four over the final 31 seconds.
"Pressure free throws and that was big,'' Ballard said. "They stepped up and made some big free throws.''
"We work on free throws a lot every day in practice and in those moments I think everyone just steps up and sees it through and it goes in,'' Christiansen said.
Jack Bachelor led Washburn with 19 points and four assists in Wednesday's 70-65 MIAA win over Missouri Southern. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Sophomore Brady Christiansen scored 10 points, including a six of six performance at the free throw line in Washburn's 70-65 MIAA win over Missouri Southern. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Bachelor led Washburn with 19 points off the bench, including three second-half 3-pointers, while freshman Brayden Shorter added 14 points with four 3s and Christiansen finished with 10 points.
"I think the fans were great tonight,'' Christiansen said. "They helped with our energy and we never flinched. We just did our things on defense and that won us the game.''
Junior Andrew Orr and sophomore Emanuel Byrd both added eight points apiece while Orr also grabbed a team-high seven rebounds and Bachelor led the Ichabods with four assists.
Washburn won despite 14 Missouri Southern 3-pointers in 30 attempts on the night.
Winston Dessesow came off the bench for the Lions to tie Bachelor for game-high scoring honors with 19 points, hitting all five of his 3-point attempts, while Darius Dawson added 14 points and Vinson Sigmon Jr. and Avery Taggart 12 apiece.
Taggart canned four 3-pointers for Southern while Dawson and Sigmon Jr. hit two treys apiece.
Sigmon also grabbed seven rebounds and dished out four assists.
Washburn will be back at home Saturday, hosting Pittsburg State in a 3 p.m. MIAA tilt.
WASHBURN MEN 70, MISSOURI SOUTHERN 65
Missouri Southern 30 35 -- 65
Washburn 29 41 -- 70
MISSOURI SOUTHERN (6-10, 4-6)
Dawson 6-17 0-0 14, Thompson 0-2 0-0 0, Long 0-5 0-0 0, Sigmon Jr. 5-11 0-0 12, Taggart 4-9 0-0 12, Jackson 0-2 1-2 1, Macenis 3-7 0-0 7, Dessesow 6-7 2-4 19. Totals 24-60 3-6 65.
WASHBURN (11-5, 7-3)
Christiansen 2-6 6-6 10, Orr 4-7 0-0 8, Johnson 1-5 0-0 2, Ungashick 3-8 1-1 7, Keegan 1-6 0-0 2, Bachelor 5-12 6-6 19, Byrd 3-3 2-2 8, Shorter 5-11 0-0 14, Schadegg 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-59 15-15 70.
3-point goals -- Missouri Southern 14-30 (Dessesow 5-5, Taggart 4-7, Sigmon Jr. 2-4, Dawson 2-6, Macenis 1-2, Long 0-5, Jackson 0-1), Washburn 7-32 (Shorter 4-9, Bachelor 3-7, Christiansen 0-4, Johnson 0-4, Keegan 0-4, Ungashick 0-3, Schadegg 0-1). Rebounds -- Missouri Southern 33 (Sigmon Jr. 7), Washburn 36 (Orr 7). Assists -- Missouri Southern 12 (Sigmon Jr. 4), Washburn 13 (Bachelor 4). Turnovers -- Missouri Southern 12, Washburn 8. Total fouls -- Missouri Southern 13, Washburn 12. Fouled out -- none. Technical fouls -- none.
Cold shooting dooms WU women in 69-50 loss to Lions
Washburn's women got off to a promising start Wednesday night, leading 8-4 in the early going after a pair of buckets off turnovers.
But things changed in a hurry, with Missouri Southern (12-4 overall, 8-2 MIAA) taking advantage of the Ichabods 1-point second quarter and 1 of 20 night from 3-point range to roll to a 69-50 MIAA win in Lee Arena, the Lions' ninth straight win.
Senior Aubree Dewey led Washburn with 11 points in the Ichabods' 69-50 loss to Missouri Southern. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Washburn (10-6, 5-5), which dropped its third straight game, was still within a point (12-11) at the end of the first quarter, but the Ichabods never recovered after the Lions outscored WU 16-1 in the second quarter, holding Washburn to a single free throw in the quarter en route to a 28-12 halftime advantage.
The Lions outscored the Ichabods by just a 41-38 margin in the second half but Southern led by as many as 23 points in the fourth quarter.
Washburn shot just 26.8 percent from the field on the night (15 of 56), including an 0 of 12 second quarter.
Southern, meanwhile, shot 52 percent for the game (26 of 50) and hit 5 of 13 3-point attempts.
Senior Aubree Dewey led the way with 11 points as all 11 Ichabods who played cracked the scoring column.
Ryan Franklin, a 6-foot-3 redshirt freshman, scored a game-high 20 points for the Lions while senior Brandi Hudson added 13 points and a game-high nine rebounds.
Washburn will be back at home Saturday for a 1 p.m. MIAA contest against Pittsburg State.
MISSOURI SOUTHERN WOMEN 69, WASHBURN WOMEN 50
Missouri Southern 12 16 22 19 -- 69
Washburn 11 1 17 21 -- 50
MISSOURI SOUTHERN (12-4, 8-2)
Webb 1-2 1-2 4, Khan 1-2 0-0 2, Jones 2-6 0-0 4, Sockey 3-7 0-0 6, Hunnicutt 1-5 2-2 4, Roach 1-1 0-0 2, Hudson 4-6 5-8 13, Franklin 9-13 2-2 20, Burg 1-3 2-2 5, Meyers 3-5 0-0 9. Totals 26-50 12-16 69.
WASHBURN (10-6, 5-5)
Amekporfor 3-9 3-4 9, Nwidadah 1-8 2-4 4, Gamble 1-4 1-2 4, Dewey 5-16 1-2 11, Wayne 1-4 2-2 4, Giovannetti 0-5 4-4 4, Snyder 1-1 0-0 2, Schieferecke 0-1 3-4 3, Davison 1-6 0-0 2, McKenzie 0-0 1-2 1, Boyd 2-2 2-4 6. Totals 30-71 14-23 84.
3-point goals -- Missouri Southern 5-13 (Meyers 3-4, Webb 1-1, Burg 1-2, Hunnicutt 0-3, Jones 0-2, Sockey 0-1), Washburn 1-20 (Gamble 1-4, Amekporfor 0-4, Wayne 0-3, Giovannetti 0-3, Davison 0-3, Dewey 0-2, Schieferecke 0-1). Rebounds -- Missouri Southern 40 (Hudson 9), Washburn 32 (Nwidadah 8). Assists -- Missouri Southern 15 (Hunnicutt 4), Washburn 4 (Four with 1). Turnovers -- Missouri Southern 16, Washburn 11. Total fouls -- Missouri Southern 25, Washburn 20. Fouled out -- Wayne. Technical fouls -- none.
