By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Forty-one year-old Lee Arena will undergo a major renovation in the very near future, with Tuesday's NCAA Division II Central Regional final the last game for Washburn University basketball in Lee's current state.
Washburn senior star Andrew Orr hoists the NCAA Central Regional trophy after scoring 17 points in his final home game. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Washburn coach Brett Ballard celebrates Tuesday's NCAA Central Regional championship in Lee Arena. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
And the Ichabods and a boisterous sellout crowd of 2,711 made sure to send WU's venerable home arena out in style, with top seed Washburn rolling to a 93-65 win over No. 2 seed Minnesota State-Moorhead to advance to next week's Elite Eight in Evansville, Ind.
"What a way to send it out,'' said senior standout Andrew Orr, who scored 17 points (8 of 9 from the field) in his final home game for the 29-3 Ichabods, who went undefeated in Lee (16-0) over the 2024-2025 season.
Feeding off the energy of its home crowd, Washburn led for 36 minutes, 55 seconds and took a 19-11 advantage after three early 3-pointers from Jack Bachelor and two from Brayden Shorter.
"We obviously got off to a great start and made shots early,'' Washburn coach Brett Ballard said. "That helped get our crowd into it. The crowd was huge for us.
"It was kind of a track meet there for the first 10 minutes or so. We kind of settled in and then defensively second half we were real good. Offensively these guys were really clicking and sharing it. I'm just really pleased and proud of our guys. This team has been on an incredible journey all year long and it's not just now. It's been since we got together in August.''
NCAA Central Regional MVP Jacob Hanna slams home a dunk in Tuesday's 93-65 win over MSU-Moorhead. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
A Jacob Hanna dunk put Washburn in command 25-15 and the Ichabods took a 32-21 advantage with 8:39 left in the half on a three-point play from Orr.
The Dragons (25-9) cut their deficit to six (47-41) at the break, but would get no closer as Orr opened the second half with back-to-back buckets to put WU up 51-41.
After two Moorhead free throws Hanna scored four straight points to give Washburn a 55-43 lead with 17:12 remaining.
Washburn went through some scary moments when senior Michael Keegan landed hard into the basket support while going for a rebound, resulting in a technical foul on the Dragons' Logan Kinsey.
Keegan suffered what appeared to be a minor injury to his left knee and left the game, but was able to return later in the half.
Bachelor hit both technical foul shots and Shorter followed with a 3-pointer to give WU a 60-45 lead with at the 16:30 mark.
Washburn made it a 20-point game (67-47) on a Brady Christiansen 3-pointer and went up 81-51 on a Christiansen hoop with 8:01 left.
The Ichabods went on to build their biggest lead of the night (93-61) with 1:56 left.
Washburn sophomore Jack Bachelor cuts down the nets after Tuesday's regional win over MSU-Moorhead. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Shorter led four double-figure scorers with 21 points (5 of 9 3-pointers), while regional MVP Hanna had 19 points and Bachelor was right behind Orr with 16 points (4 of 6 3s) and also dished out 10 assists. Orr and Bachelor were also named to the all-tournament team.
Washburn hit 18 of 32 shots from the field in both halves to finish at 56 percent for the contest.
The Ichabods were also 12 of 25 from deep for the game while hitting 9 of 10 free throws.
The Ichabods held the Dragons to 25 of 57 shooting (44 percent) and 6 of 19 (32 percent) from deep in the game.
Freshman Carson Johnson, an all-tourney pick, led MSU-Moorhead with 17 points, but had just two in the second half.
WU will be playing in the Elite Eight for the fourth time in program history and the first time since 2001.
"This feels very good,'' Hanna said. "Coming to Washburn I think this was one of the goals, to host a region and win a region so it feels very good to achieve that, but I don't want to be done yet. This is my senior year and I'm hoping we can still get some more wins.''
Washburn will now face Lenoir-Rhyne, the winners of the Southeast Region, next Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. CST in Evansville in the NCAA National Quarterfinals.
Washburn reached the 2001 NCAA Championship game, falling to Kentucky Wesleyan 72-63 on March 24 in Bakersfield, Calif.
WASHBURN 93, MINNESOTA STATE-MOORHEAD 65
MSU Moorhead 41 24 -- 65
Washburn 47 46 -- 93
MINNESOTA STATE-MOORHEAD (25-9)
Hastreiter 1-2 2-2 4, L. Kinsey 4-8 0-0 10, Wysocki 5-8 0-0 10, Jennissen 2-5 4-4 8, Johnson 7-16 0-0 17, J. Beeninga 0-3 1-2 1, Price 3-9 2-2 9, W. Kinsey 1-2 0-0 2, E. Beeninga 0-1 0-0 0, Birkholz 0-1 0-0 0, Gerads 1-1 0-0 2, Jenkins 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 25-57 9-10 65.
WASHBURN (29-3)
Orr 8-9 0-0 17, Hanna 8-16 2-2 19, Bachelor 5-8 2-2 16, Shorter 8-14 0-0 21, Keegan 1-3 0-0 2, Ungashick 1-4 0-0 2, Christiansen 2-4 2-2 7, Claussen 2-4 2-3 6, Schadegg 1-1 0-0 3, Cook 0-1 0-0 0, Parker 0-0 0-0 0, Dajani 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 36-64 12-25 93.
3-point goals -- MSU-Moorhead 6-19 (Johnson 3-6, L. Kinsey 2-3, Price 1-2, J. Beeninga 0-3, Wysocki 0-2, Jennissen 0-1, W. Kinsey 0-1, E. Beeninga 0-1), Washburn 12-25 (Shorter 5-9, Bachelor 4-6, Hanna 1-1, Schadegg 1-1, Christiansen 1-3, Ungashick 0-3, Keegan 0-1, Cook 0-1). Rebounds -- MSU-Moorhead 19 (Wysocki 5), Washburn 39 (Shorter 9). Assists -- MSU-Moorhead 8 (Johnson 2, Price 2), Washburn 19 (Bachelor 10). Turnovers -- MSU-Moorhead 11, Washburn 13. Total fouls -- MSU-Moorhead 12, Washburn 13. Fouled out -- none. Technical fouls -- L. Kinsey.
