By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn men’s basketball team won last Saturday at Northeastern State despite not being at its best, rallying from a 12-point deficit in the second half to pull out an 85-84 overtime MIAA victory over the Riverhawks.
But Ichabod coach Brett Ballard knows that anything less than WU’s ‘A’ game probably won’t be enough for the No. 5-ranked Ichabods to have a chance to knock off top-ranked Northwest Missouri in Thursday’s 6 p.m. MIAA contest at Maryville, Mo.
"We'll have to play a lot better,'' Ballard said Wednesday. "If we play like we did Saturday it will get ugly.''
Tyler Geiman, Washburn's star senior point guard, is the reigning MIAA player of the week after a 29-point game against Northeastern State. [Photograph by Rex Wolf]
Washburn will take a 7-0 record into the MIAA showdown while Northwest Missouri is 5-0. The Bearcats, who have won 11 straight games against Washburn, are coming off an 84-69 win at Pittsburg State on Saturday and are 74-1 over the past three seasons.
"They've been the standard,'' Ballard said of Northwest. "They've been elite. We've been really good and they've been elite, so we're trying to get over that hump.
"It's a big opportunity for our players. We have a lot of respect for their program, but I think our guys are excited and ready.''
Senior Tyler Geiman, the MIAA Player of the Week, leads Washburn’s men in scoring (17.3 points per game), assists (6.6), rebounds (6.7) and steals (2.0).
Geiman scored a career-high 29 points against Northeastern State to go with 9 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals.
Junior Jalen Lewis is averaging 12.1 points and has hit 19 of 36 3-point attempts this season while senior Drew Maschoff averages 12 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists and junior Jonny Clausing 10.6 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocks..
Ryan Hawkins leads Northwest Missouri with a 22-point average and also averages 8.8 rebounds, while former Manhattan star Trevor Hudgins averages 19.8 points and 5.6 assists for the Bearcats.
Northwest rallied from a 35-26 halftime deficit to knock off Washburn 69-61 in the most recent meeting between the two schools.
Washburn continues its three-game road trip Saturday at No. 22 Missouri Western before returning home to face Missouri Southern on Jan. 14.
