By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University men's basketball moved up five spots to No. 5 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches national rankings on Tuesday and then went out and showed why.
The Ichabods improved to a perfect 5-0 on the season with their fifth straight victory by at least 17 points, rolling to an 89-71 win over MIAA foe Pittsburg State in a non-conference game in Lee Arena.
Senior Jacob Hanna scored a game-high 20 points to lead five players in double figures for Washburn, which improved to 5-0 with an 89-71 win over Pittsburg State. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Andrew Orr scored 17 points on 7 of 9 shooting from the field in Washburn's 89-71 win over Pittsburg State. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
As they have all season, Brett Ballard's Ichabods rode their balance to the decisive victory, with all five WU starters cracking double figures. Washburn has had no fewer than four double-digit scorers in any of its five games while having as many six players reach double figures in a game.
"We have so many weapons and Ballard preaches that every single day,'' Washburn senior Andrew Orr said. "It doesn't matter who it is, we have seven, eight guys that can score 20 points on you any given night and that's the most dangerous part about our team, that we can do that and everyone plays really good defense.''
"It's a great team,'' added senior Jacob Hanna, who is his first season with the Ichabods after transferring from Illinois-Springfield. "We have a bunch of different options than get it done offensively and also on the defensive end. This team we know offense is going to come so we all just have to focus on defense and focus on the very important things.''
Hanna led the Ichabods with a game-high 20 points added seven rebounds while Orr scored 17 points on 7 of 9 shooting, Shorter finished with 15 points and Michael Keegan and Jack Bachelor added 13 points each.
"We've had some good teams but this is probably the deepest team we've had and you combine that with the experience that we have and a confident group in the right ways,'' Ballard said.
Bachelor had four steals in the game and Christiansen had seven rebounds to tie Hanna for game-high honors.
With the score tied at 2-2 in the first minute of the game, Washburn used a 14-5 run to double up the Gorillas at 14-7 and stretched its lead to 12 after 3-pointers by Brayden Shorter and Brady Christiansen and a pair of Shorter free throws.
Pittsburg (2-3) used an 8-0 run to get within four at 22-18 with 10:15 to go in the first half and were still within five points before the Ichabods scored the next seven points to go up 14 and then scored seven more points after another 3-pointer by Pitt State to go up a first-half high 16 points before taking a 44-33 lead into the break.
Washburn scored 14 of the first 20 points of the second half to building a 19-point advantage at 58-39 with 14:20 to go.
Pitt State would cut the lead to 14 with 10:04 to go, but that would be as close as the Gorillas would get as the Ichabods led by as many as 23 en route to its ninth game in a row over PSU.
Washburn finished the game 31 of 58 from the field, 10 of 25 from 3-point range and 17 of 19 from the free throw line.
Pittsburg State finished 24 of 52 from the field. The Ichabods outrebounded the Gorillas, 35-21.
"I think we've been playing well and the intensity level is very good on both ends, but especially how that carries over to the defensive end, forcing turnovers, forcing hard shots and getting (opponents) sped up and wore down,'' Ballard said. "It's really good.''
R.J. Forner led the Gorillas with 18 points.
The Ichabods will be back in action on Saturday, hosting William Jewell in a 2 p.m. non-conference game.
WASHBURN MEN 89, PITTSBURG STATE 71
Pittsburg State 33 38 -- 71
Washburn 44 45 -- 89
PITTSBURG STATE (2-3)
Washington 2-5 3-4 7, Frison 6-14 0-0 13, Forney 6-12 2-2 18, Mans 2-6 8-8 13, Taggart 4-10 0-0 11, Branch 1-1 0-0 2, Prictor 1-1 0-0 2, Kirsippuu 1-2 0-0 3, Shanks 1-1 0-0 2, Jackson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-52 13-14 71.
WASHBURN (5-0)
Orr 7-9 3-3 17, Hanna 7-11 5-5 20, Bachelor 4-12 2-2 13, Shorter 5-13 2-2 15, Keegan 4-5 3-3 13, Christiansen 2-3 1-2 6, Claussen 1-3 1-2 3, Schadegg 0-0 0-0 0, Cook 1-2 0-0 2, Parker 0-0 0-0 0, Dajani 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-58 17-19 89.
3-point goals -- Pittsburg State 10-26 (Forney 4-9, Taggart 3-8, Frison 1-3, Mans 1-3, Kirsipuu 1-2, Washington 0-1), Washburn 10-25 (Shorter 3-9, Bachelor 3-8, Keegan 2-3, Hanna 1-2, Christiansen 1-2, Cook 0-1), Rebounds -- Pittsburg State 21 (Washington 4, Forney 4), Washburn 35 (Christiansen 7, Hanna 7). Assists -- Pittsburg State 17 (Forney 5, Mans 5), Washburn 16 (Keegan 4). Turnovers -- PIttsburg State 15, Washburn 12. Total fouls -- Pittsburg State 17, Washburn 15. Fouled out -- none. Technical fouls -- none.
