By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
No. 1-ranked Washburn University men's basketball set a school record for the most consecutive wins to start a season Thursday night, improving to 20-0 and 11-0 in the MIAA with a 74-65 win over Fort Hays State in Lee Arena.
Sophomore Jack Bachelor led the way with 20 points as Washburn won its program-record 20th straight game to open the season Thursday night. [File photo/TSN]
The Ichabods scored the first pair of points on a layup by Michael Keegan, but the Tigers (13-6, 6-4) took the lead back, scoring 7 of the next 9 of the game and would go on to build a lead of as many as 7 in the opening half with 11:26 to play, 17-10.
With the Ichabods down 20-15 with 7:47 to play in the half, Washburn ripped off a 21-4 run to close the half with Jack Bachelor scoring the final nine points of the frame for the Ichabods as Washburn took a 36-24 lead into the break. Washburn was 7 of 9 during the final 7:20 of the first half while the Ichabod defense held the Tigers to 1 of 8 shooting.
In the second half, the Ichabods were holding a 17-point lead at 53-36 with 11:50 to go, but the Tigers used a 10-0 run trimming the Washburn lead to seven with 10:04 left. The Tigers would go on to cut the lead to six with 5:55 to play and for the final time with 5:16 to play before Brayden Shorter hit a 3-pointer to help push Washburn's lead back to 10 at 64-54. The Tigers would not get any closer than eight the rest of the way as Washburn hit 8 of 9 free throws in the final 3:19, securing its 20th straight win in front of a crowd of more than 3,000 in Lee Arena.
Bachelor led the Ichabods with 20 points while adding five assists.
Jacob Hanna scored 15 points and added seven boards and Brady Christiansen recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Andrew Orr finished with 10 points.
Kyle Grill led the Tigers with 25 points.
Washburn shot 47 percent from the field, hitting 22 of 47 overall, and held the Tigers to 44 percent shooting at 24 of 55. The Ichabods hit 25 of 33 free throws and held a 36 to 24 advantage on the glass.
Washburn committed 14 turnovers leading to 22 points for the Tigers and the Washburn bench outscored the Tiger bench 18 to 6.
WU women fall to No. 8-ranked Tigers
Washburn could not overcome a slow offensive start Thursday as the Ichabods fell 85-47 to No. 8 Fort Hays State in Lee Arena.
The Ichabods (11-10, 5-6) got the first bucket of the game from Yibari Nwidadah 28 seconds in. The next 10 points all went to the Tigers (17-2, 8-2) as they held Washburn to 3-12 shooting in the first quarter. All seven points for the Ichabods in the first frame came from Nwidadah as they trailed 18-7 after 10 minutes.
In the second quarter Washburn cut the lead back to single digits, scoring the first three points of the quarter, making it 18-10 after Payton Sterk got a layup to go at the 8:25 mark. Fort Hays State scored the next four points to push it back to double digits as the visitors offense began to heat up, shooting 8-14 (57.1 percent) in the quarter. The Ichabod offense wasn't able to keep pace in the final five minutes as the visitors went into the half leading 41-17.
Once again Washburn got the first points of the quarter in the third as Gabi Giovannetti got a layup to go. The hot shooting for Fort Hays State continued with 10 field goals in the quarter, pushing the lead up to 30 points at the 5:37 mark. The Ichabods trailed 64-30 heading into the fourth.
The Ichabods traded baskets to begin the fourth quarter, getting the lead down to 30 after Nwidadah got a layup to go. The deficit was unable to be cut below that mark as both teams emptied the benches late.
Washburn closed out the game shooting 32.7 percent and were just 2-9 from 3-point range, with both makes coming in the fourth quarter. Fort Hays State shot 50.8 (33-65) and knocked down 8-19 triples.
On the boards the Ichabods were outrebounded 40-29 while FHSU also won the turnover battle 19-9.
Nwidadah shot 5-9 to lead Washburn with 13 points and eight rebounds. Giovannetti and Sterk each scored in double figures with 12 and 10, respectively.
Four players from the Tigers reached double figures, led by Talexa Weeter with 19 points and six rebounds.
The Ichabod women are back in action on Saturday, hosting Nebraska Kearney at 1:10 p.m. in the MIAA Game of the Week on 38 the Spot in Kansas City. The men's game will follow.
