By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University senior star point guard Tyler Geiman got the word in the second half of Tuesday's game against Northeastern State that he had a chance for the first triple-double in the Ichabods' proud men's basketball history.
But Geiman didn't try to do anything special to try to etch his name in Washburn's record book. He just did what he had been doing all night and, really, for his whole career.
"With like 10 minutes to go I went to the bench and one of my coaches was like, 'Hey, you're going to get one more shot and you need two assists,' so I went in and kind of did what we normally do, go make plays and people hit shots and it worked out,'' Geiman said after finishing with 17 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in the Ichabods' 88-73 MIAA romp at Lee Arena.
"We were just playing and doing what we do.''
Tyler Geiman notched the first triple-double in Washburn history in Tuesday's 88-73 win over Northeastern State. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Geiman wasn't about to toot his own horn, but admitted that he was proud of his accomplishment.
"It's awesome, for sure,'' the Blue Valley product said. "There's been a bunch of great players that came through here and I'm really just out there trying to win games. I definitely got a couple of long rebounds that came my way tonight, but it was fun and I'm glad we got it done.''
"Geiman was phenomenal, and it's pretty special to have the first triple-double in school history,'' Washburn coach Brett Ballard said. "I'm happy for him. He's a great kid and he deserves it.''
Coming off two straight losses for the first time all season the Ichabods got the bounce-back win they were looking for, leading by 16 points at the half and by as many as 29 points in the second half en route to improving to 15-5 on the year and clinching the No. 2 seed for the upcoming MIAA postseason tournament.
Tuesday's win came against a Northeastern State team that had pushed WU to overtime in an 85-84 Ichabod win on Jan. 2.
"We wanted to get off to a good start,'' Ballard said. "They're coming off two wins and were obviously playing with confidence and they played well against us the first time, so I challenged our guys to get off to a good start and I thought we were really, really good in spurts.''
Sophomore Tyler Nelson hit all 5 of his 3-point attempts and finished with 24 points in Tuesday's 88-73 Washburn win over Northeastern State. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Sophomore Tyler Nelson had a career-high 24 points and went 5 of 5 from 3-point range for the Ichabods while sophomore Connor Deffebaugh added 14 points and junior Jalen Lewis 11 as Washburn hit 15 of 31 3-pointers as a team.
Northeastern State (4-16) got 20 points from Troy Locke and 16 points and 4 3s off the bench from Christian Cook.
Washburn will travel to Missouri Southern on Thursday before closing out the regular season at home Saturday against Emporia State.
WASHBURN MEN 88, NORTHEASTERN STATE 73
Northeastern State 32 41 -- 73
Washburn 48 40 -- 88
NORTHEASTERN STATE (4-16, 4-16)
Sampson 3-8 2-3 8, Agu 1-8 0-0 2, Locke 6-9 6-7 20, Bailey 0-3 0-0 0, Davis 4-9 0-1 9, Cook 5-9 2-2 16, Guiot 1-4 0-0 3, Dotson 2-5 1-1 6, Perkins 2-6 1-1 5, Prince 1-1 2-2 4. Totals 25-62 14-17 73.
WASHBURN (15-5, 15-5)
McKee 3-7 0-0 8, Williams 0-1 1-2 1, Geiman 6-10 2-2 17, Nelson 7-8 5-6 24, Lewis 4-10 0-0 11, Deffebaugh 5-8 2-2 14, Clausing 2-3 5-8 9, Braun 0-6 0-0 0, Carter 1-2 1-1 3, Keegan 0-0 0-0 0, Cordes 0-2 0-0 0, Ross 0-0 1-2 1, Davidson 0-0 0-0 0, Blevins 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-57 15-31 88.
3-point goals -- Northeastern State 9-28 (Cook 4-5, Locke 2-2, Davis 1-6, Guiot 1-4, Dotson 1-3, Sampson 0-2, Agu 0-2, Bailey 0-2, Perkins 0-2), Washburn 15-31 (Nelson 5-5, Geiman 3-5, Lewis 3-7, McKee 2-3, Deffebaugh 2-4, Braun 0-5, Cordes 0-2). Rebounds -- Northeastern State 35 (Prince 9), Washburn 35 (Geiman 11). Assists -- Northeastern State 10 (Three with 2), Washburn 15 (Geiman 11). Turnovers -- Northeastern State 15, Washburn 13. Total fouls -- Northeastern State 18, Washburn 16. Fouled out -- none.
