By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Top seed and No. 3-ranked Washburn University men's basketball was good enough in the first half Thursday night to open up a 10-point advantage over Central Oklahoma.
Junior All-MIAA guard Jack Bachelor celebrates one of his five 3-pointers in Thursday's 91-52 Washburn MIAA Tournament win over Central Oklahoma. [Photo by Kyle Manthe/Washburn Athletics] But the Ichabods were unstoppable after halftime, riding a 55-point second half to a dominating 91-52 quarterfinal win over the Bronchos in the MIAA Tournament in Municipal Auditorium.
"I'm really pleased with how we came out at halftime,'' Washburn coach Brett Ballard said. "I kind of challenged the guys at halftime just to stay in the moment and stay mentally locked in one possession at a time and I thought we were as good as we've been probably all year that first seven, eight minutes of the second half.
"We get going and these guys are turned up like that we can play at a pretty high level.''
The Ichabods, who avenged a loss to UCO in the 2025 MIAA tournament, will now face the winner of Friday's game between Missouri Western and Arkansas-Fort Smith at 6 p.m. on Saturday in a semifinal.
Washburn, which improved to 29-1, set the tone early as junior point guard Jack Bachelor opened things up with a 3-pointer and the Ichabods would never trail.
The Ichabods went on to push their advantage to 16-6 five minutes into the game and Washburn would go on to lead by as many as 13 points in the half.
Central Oklahoma (17-16) cut its deficit to 27-21 with 3:02 left in the half, but the Ichabods closed the half with a 9-5 run, including six straight points from Bachelor in the final 1:16 to take a 36-26 lead into halftime.
The second half belonged entirely to Washburn, which opened the final 20 minutes with a 17-1 run in the first 4:32, including a 15-0 run to start the half.
Washburn went on to lead by as many 42 points, going 10 for 15 from 3-point range in the second half while shooting a blistering 70 percent overall (21 of 30).
The Ichabods shot 58.6 percent from the field and 50 percent from 3-point range on the night while holding Central Oklahoma to 31.3 percent shooting and just 2 for 20 on 3-point attempts.
Washburn also forced 16 Broncho turnovers, converting them into 28 points, and dominated the paint with 44 points inside.
Bachelor, a Washburn Rural product, led the Ichabods with a game-high 24 points, hitting 9 of 17 shots from the field and 5 of 11 from 3-point range, while also adding seven assists with no turnovers.
"Municipal's awesome, this MIAA Tournament's awesome,'' Bachelor said. "We kind of had a bad taste in our mouth from last year. We were fired up, we were ready to go and this is postseason basketball. This is March, this is what you dream of.''
Sophomore Dillon Claussen scored 21 points in just 18:26 of work in Thursday's 91-52 Washburn MIAA Tournament win over Central Oklahoma. [Photo by Kyle Manthe/Washburn Athletics] Sophomore Dillon Claussen finished with 21 points on 7 of 7 shooting from the field, including 2 of 2 from 3-point range while senior Brady Christiansen added 11 points and five rebounds. Sophomore Tyson Ruud led the Ichabods with six rebounds off the bench.
Claussen's 21 points came in 18:26 of work as he played only 6:26 in the first half after picking up two early fouls.
"We feel like we're one of the deepest teams in the nation,'' Claussen said. "When I'm on the bench I don't feel a dropoff at all. It's amazing knowing my teammates have my back when I get in that type of situation.''
Central Oklahoma was led by Trey Tuck with 13 points.
The last two games against UCO the Ichabods have won by 24 points, earlier this season in Edmond, and 39 points Thursday – the two largest margins of victory in the series' 45 games.
