By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Washburn Ichabods' five-game men's basketball winning streak came to a halt in an 81-80 overtime loss at Missouri Western on Wednesday night.
In overtime, the Griffons scored first but a pair of free throws by Washburn sophomore Andrew Orr tied the score at 71 with 4:32 to play.
Washburn sophomore Andrew Orr scored a career-high 26 points in Wednesday's 81-80 overtime loss at Missouri Western. [File photo/TSN]
Missouri Western went up by four after two lay ups, but a 3-pointer from Levi Braun cut the Griffon lead to 75-74. Western pushed the advantage back to three, but Orr was fouled and went back to the line with 2:34, cutting the lead back to one at 77-76.
Washburn took the lead at 80-79 with 11 seconds to go on Orr's career-high 25th and 26th points of the night, but Western scored on a jumper with two seconds remaining to go up, 81-80. After a timeout, Washburn needed to go the length of the court with 2.5 seconds to go and the shot from inside the lane came up short.
The Ichabods trailed at the break, 34-30, after going the final two-plus minutes without a point after leading by as many as 10 in the opening 20 minutes.
Washburn led by 10 at 17-7 with 12:50 to go after a bucket by Tyler Nelson.
Midway through the first half, the Griffons went on a 15-7 run to take a 30-27 lead. A 3-point play by Washburn's Michael Keegan tied the score at 30 with 2:38 to go but the Griffons finished with back-to-back layups to take the four-point lead into the locker room.
Coming out of the break, the Ichabods scored eight straight points, with six coming from Orr as Washburn took a 38-34 lead.
After a flagrant foul was called on the Griffons, Jarmell Johnson would hit a free throw and then Orr scored on two straight possessions as the Ichabods went up 44-41 with 12:31 to play.
With Washburn leading 65-55 with 3:04 to go in the game, the Griffons closed regulation on a 14-4 run to force overtime.
Orr led all scorers with his 26 points on 10 of 13 shooting, including 21 points in the second half while going six of eight from the free throw line. Braun scored 19 points with five 3-pointers and Nelson finished with 18.
JaRon Thames led the Griffons with 21 points.
Washburn will return to action on Saturday at Northwest Missouri (3 p.m. tipoff).
Western women pull away in second half
Washburn was unable to overcome Missouri Western's second-half offensive surge and dropped a 67-47 road game Wednesday night.
Missouri Western (19-5 overall, 13-3 MIAA) led 10-4 with 6:13 on the clock in the first when the Ichabod defense locked in and allowed only one free throw for the remainder of the quarter.
WU's Aubree Dewey and Amaya Davison hit back-to-back 3--pointers to start a 9-1 run to end the period with Washburn leading, 13-11.
The scoring drought switched teams and plagued Washburn (9-11, 5-9) in the second quarter as the Ichabods were just two of 13 from the field and were outscored, 12-4. Both teams went a five-minute stretch without scoring a point, but the Griffons finished off the opening half with four unanswered points to go up, 23-17, at the break.
Lakyn Schieferecke made a layup on back-to-back possessions early in the third quarter to trim the WU deficit down to six points, but that would be as close as it would get for Washburn.
Although Washburn shot 42.9 percent from the field and held Missouri Western to a 33.3 clip ( four of 12), the Griffons hit two 3-pointers and were eight of 10 at the charity stripe to lead by 10 at the end of the period.
The Griffons outscored the Ichabods, 26-16, to pull away in the final quarter and led by as many as 22 with one minute left in regulation.
Emma Chapman and Natalia Figueroa led the Ichabods with nine points each while Schieferecke had eight points and tied a career-high in rebounds with seven. Dewey also chipped in eight points.
Missouri Western's Brionna Budgetts and Connie Clarke teamed up to score 46 of the Griffons' 67 points. Budgetts had a game-high 29 points and Clarke had a double-double with 17 points and 16 rebounds.
The Ichabods will close out their Missouri road trip on Saturday afternoon at Northwest Missouri (1 p.m.).
