By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Looking for an upset over the nation's No. 1-ranked team, Newman came out aggressive in Saturday's matchup with Washburn University at Lee Arena.
Washburn senior Jacob Hanna (5) scored a game-high in Saturday's 121-73 win over Newman while reaching the 1,000 point milestone for his career. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Washburn sophomore Brayden Shorter scored 18 points on six 3-pointers in Saturday's 121-73 win over Newman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But after taking an early lead and drawing Washburn's ire with some hard fouls, that proved to be bad news for the Jets, with the Ichabods turning in a dominant performance the rest of the way in a 121-73 win in Lee Arena.
"I think they poked the bear a little bit,'' Ichabod senior Jacob Hanna said. "They were kind of being a little chippy and getting after us, so I think we did a good job of responding and picking our guys up. We don't try to do too much of that rah rah stuff on the court. We let our play do the talking.''
Sophomore Brayden Shorter agreed.
"They were a little chippy in the beginning and I think it kind of fired us up in the right way and we kind of needed that,'' Shorter said.
"The good thing about our guys is it doesn't take much (to get them going) and I thought they handled that fine,'' Washburn coach Brett Ballard said. "And Newman, that's what you want, they came out scrappy.''
The Ichabods went on to hit the 100-point mark with 9:15 to play and led by as many as 55 points en route to improving to 17-0 overall and 8-0 in the MIAA.
Washburn led by as many as 55 points with 7:43 to play in the game and had 11 players crack the scoring column and five with double figures, led by Hanna with a game-high 26 points.
Shorter scored 18 points on six 3-pointers, followed by senior Andrew Orr with 17 points, sophomore Jack Bachelor with 13 and Dillon Claussen with 11 points.
Hanna went 9 of 11 shooting from the field, topping the 1,000-point career milestone, while Bachelor recorded his first double-double with his 13 points and 10 assists and added seven rebounds.
Playing in front of the Dyersville, Iowa fan club that bears his name, senior Michael Keegan scored 9 points with 4 rebounds and a career-high 7 steals.
The Jets (10-7, 3-5) scored the first points of the game and led for 2:33 before the Ichabods used a 16-3 run to take a 21-11 lead midway through the first half with points by five different Ichabods.
The Ichabods continued the run with another 18-2 run, taking a 40-18 lead with 7:31 to play in the half. Washburn would go on to take a 60-32 lead into the break after shooting 50 percent in the first half and hitting 7 of 16 3-pointers in the frame.
Washburn scored 16 of the first 22 points in the second half, doubling up the Jets at 76-38 with 16:45 to play as the Jets trailed by no fewer than 40 points the final 12:12 of the game.
Aaron Murphy had 19 points to lead the Jets.
Washburn, which entered the game trailing the Jets in rebounding in the MIAA stats, out-rebounded Newman 43-28, including 12 offensive rebounds that led to 18 second-chance points.
Washburn finished the game shooting 58 percent at 40 of 69 from the field after shooting 65 percent in the second half. Washburn finished 14 of 30 from 3-point range and was 27 of 34 from the free throw line.
The Ichabods also dished out 30 assists as a team as Washburn posted its 10th straight win over Newman.
Hanna now has 1,006 career points, scoring 745 at Illinois-Springfield and 261 as an Ichabod.
"It's a big accomplishment, but you don't score 1,000 points without a lot of great passes and good coaching, so that's not really a personal achievement, that's a team achievemnt,'' Hanna said.
Washburn will be on the road for the next two games with contests at Northwest Missouri on Wednesday and Missouri Western on Saturday before returning home to face Fort Hays State on Jan. 30.
WASHBURN MEN 121, NEWMAN 73
Newman 32 41 -- 73
Washburn 60 61 -- 121
NEWMAN (10-7, 3-5)
Murphy 6-11 4-4 19, Fikes 0-2 0-0 0, Walker 3-8 0-0 7, Stanton III 4-8 2-3 11, Somerhalder 7-16 3-5 17, Medalie 0-2 0-0 0, Rutayisire 0-1 0-0 0, McClure 1-3 0-0 3, Schoen 4-8 1-2 12, Joe 1-5 1-2 4. Totals 26-64 11-16 73.
WASHBURN (17-0, 8-0)
Orr 5-9 7-9 17, Hanna 9-11 7-9 26, Bachelor 4-5 2-2 13, Shorter 6-16 0-0 18, Keegan 4-6 0-0 9, Ungashick 2-4 0-0 5, Christiansen 1-3 3-4 5, Claussen 3-3 5-7 11, Ruud 2-5 3-3 7, Schadegg 2-4 0-0 6, Cook 2-2 0-0 4, Parker 0-0 0-0 0, Dajani 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 40-69 27-34 121.
3-point goals -- Newman 10-27 (Murphy 3-4, Schoen 3-7, Walker 1-4, Joe 1-4, McClure 1-3, Stanton 1-2, Fikes 0-2, Medalie 0-1), Washburn 14-30 (Shorter 6-13, Bachelor 3-4, Schadegg 2-4, Hanna 1-3, Keegan 1-1, Ungaschick 1-3, Christiansen 0-2). Rebounds -- Newman 28 (Somerhalder 7), Washburn 43 (Bachelor 7, Christiansen 6). Assists -- Newman 15 (Walker 5), Washburn 30 (Bachelor 10). Turnovers -- Newman 16, Washburn 9. Total fouls -- Newman 23, Washburn 16. Fouled out -- Fikes. Technical fouls -- Shorter, Fikes.
