By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Washburn University men's basketball team rallied from an eight-point halftime deficit to take a 64-63 MIAA win over Missouri Western on Wednesday night in Lee Arena, with Jarmell Johnson canning the second of two free throw attempts with 2.7 seconds left for the game-winning point.
Washburn junior Andrew Orr scored a game-high 25 points in the Ichabods' 64-63 win over Missouri Western Wednesday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Michael Keegan slams home a dunk in Wednesday's 64-63 MIAA win over Missouri Western Wednesday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
After Johnson's free throw the Griffons' inbounds pass was picked off by Brady Christiansen, sealing the win for the Ichabods, who improved to 10-0 in home games this season.
Johnson had missed free throws with a chance to send a game to overtime early in the season, but this time the sophomore emerged as the hero.
"I felt like I had the same free throw routine, but this time I just finished on my toes,'' Johnson said. "We've practiced a lot of free throws in practice this week, too, so I feel like we prepare right for that.''
Wednesday's dramatic win gave Washburn a much-needed bounce-back win after a disappointing 75-66 loss at Northeastern State last Saturday.
With the win the Ichabods improved to 15-7 overall and 11-5 in the MIAA, with WU surpassing its victory total from the 2022-2023 season.
Junior Andrew Orr, who scored just two points in Saturday's loss, led all scorers with 25 points, hitting 11 of 19 shots while adding six rebounds and a block with 17 of his points coming in the second half.
"I went out there (at Northeastern) and my energy going into the game was not the same that I bring to every game,'' Orr said. "I knew that and I think that's part of the reason we played so poorly because not just me but as a team we knew that Northeastern wasn't a great team and we thought we were just going to go out and beat them, but in the MIAA you can't do that.
"Everybody's good and it really motivated not just me but the entire team. We knew that we needed a bounce-back game from that because that was a bad loss for us.''
Orr was the only Ichabod to reach double-figure scoring with Sam Ungashick and Michael Keegan scoring nine points apiece. Ungashick also had four assists and two steals.
Washburn entered the halftime break down 38-30 after shooting 38 percent in the opening frame, including starting the game one of six from the field as the Griffons jumped out to a 10-2 lead.
The Ichabods cut the lead to two several times before the Griffons (15-7, 9-7) jumped out to a 10-point lead before a pair of Ungashick free throws cut Washburn's deficit to eight at the half.
Starting the second half, Washburn used a 12-2 run while hitting five of its first seven shots, including two 3-pointers, to take a 42-40 lead with 16:26 to play.
Missouri Western answered with a 3-pointer on a turn-around 3-pointer from 23-feet as the shot clock went off, taking a 43-42 lead, but the Ichabods used a 6-0 spurt pushing their lead to 48-43.
Washburn led 52-47 with 8:22 to play after four straight points from Orr and the five-point lead was the largest by either team the rest of the way.
After Washburn led 54-50 after a layup by Orr, Missouri Western scored five-straight points to take a 55-54 before an Orr free throw tied the score at 55.
A Keegan layup with 3:54 put the Ichabods up 57-54, but Missouri Western tied the score at 57 and took the lead at 59-57 after back to back layups by Tay Fields.
Orr hit back to back layups of his own to put the Ichabods back in front at 61-59 with 1:18 to play.
A jumper by JaRon James tied the score at 61 with 58 seconds to play before Orr hit another layup to cap his 25-points night and give Washburn the lead at 63-61.
Fields tied the score with a jumper with 12 seconds to play, setting up Johnson's game-winning free throw as Washburn won its second in a row over the Griffons.
"It was a gritty tough win,'' Washburn coach Brett Ballard said. "The ball didn't go in the basket very much but we just found a way and then AO (Orr) was good enough for us offensively. He carried us obviously in spurts.''
Fields recorded a double double with 19 points and 14 rebounds and Zion Swader had 10 points.
Washburn shot 42 percent for the game hitting 25 of 60 shots overall and was held to six of 22 shooting from 3-point range.
The Ichabods were outrebounded 36-35, but forced the Griffons into 15 turnovers leading to 19 Washburn points.
The Ichabods will be back in action on Saturday at 3 p.m. hosting Northwest Missouri.
WASHBURN MEN 64, MISSOURI WESTERN 63
Missouri Western 38 25 -- 63
Washburn 30 34 -- 64
MISSOURI WESTERN (15-7, 9-7)
Saxon 2-4 2-2 7, Thames 4-9 0-0 9, Dixon 3-12 0-0 7, Swader 2-10 5-6 10, Fields 6-13 3-4 19, Glover 2-6 0-0 6, Bubak 0-1 2-2 2, Book 1-1 0-0 3, Anthony 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-56 12-14 63.
WASHBURN (15-7, 11-5)
Christiansen 2-6 2-2 7, Orr 11-19 3-5 25, Ungashick 3-8 2-2 9, Bachelor 2-7 0-0 5, Keegan 4-8 0-0 9, Schadegg 0-0 0-0 0, Shorter 1-6 0-0 3, Johnson 2-6 1-2 6. Totals 25-60 8-11 64.
3-point goals -- Missouri Western 7-19 (Glover 2-6, Saxon 1-3, Thames 1-1, Dixon 1-5, Swader 1-2, Book 1-1, Bubak 0-1), Washburn 6-22 (Shorter 1-4, Bachelor 1-3, Christiansen 1-4, Johnson 1-4, Keegan 1-2, Ungashick 1-5). Rebounds -- Missouri Western 36 (Fields 14), Washburn 35 (Johnson 7). Assists -- Missouri Western 9 (Swader 3, Fields 3), Washburn 9 (Ungashick 4). Turnovers -- Missouri Western 15, Washburn 12. Total fouls -- Missouri Western 11, Washburn 14. Fouled out -- none. Technical fouls -- none.
Western tops WU women, 72-59
Washburn made a push late but was unable to overcome an early deficit, falling 72-59 to Missouri Western State on Wednesday in Lee Arena.
Washburn (11-11 overall, 6-10 MIAA) scored the first four points of the game within the first minute but the next seven came from the Griffons (18-4, 13-3) and they would never relinquish the lead.
An 8-0 run for the visitors opened the game up and the lead was pushed to double digits with 2:34 left in the quarter after a 3-pointer. The Ichabods shot just 4-17 in the quarter but scored the final four points of the quarter to trail just 20-12.
After Missouri Western's lead crept up to 12 early in the second quarter Washburn went on a 6-0 run with four points from senior Aubree Dewey to pull within six with 4:12 in the half.
In the final four minutes of the half the Griffons scored 12 points as MWSU shot 58.33 percent in the quarter to go into halftime up 38-26.
Offense was hard to come by for both teams in the third quarter with both teams shooting a combined 9-32.
Washburn got its first 3-pointer of the game to fall, with Lakyn Schieferecke knocking down a shot at the 5:19 mark.
Missouri Western went on a 6-0 run to push the lead up to 15 points before Amaya Davison sunk a pair of free throws. The Griffons would get the final bucket of the quarter and led 52-37 going into the fourth.
The Ichabods had their most effective offensive quarter in the fourth, shooting 8-14 from the floor with two 3-pointers and going 4-4 at the line.
The visitors were able to withstand the offensive punches shooting 8-17 themselves for the quarter.
After MWSU went up by 17 Washburn went on a 7-0 run to cut it to 10 and put it in single digits on a basket by Madelyn Amekporfor with 54 seconds left but it was too late with Missouri Western taking the 13-point win.
The Ichabods shot 32.8 percent for the game and were just 3-16 from behind the 3-pointarc.
Davison led Washburn with 14 points on 4-8 shooting and was 6-6 from the line.
Dewey had 10 points with four steals and Nia McKenzie had 10 points and eight rebounds.
Washburn played without injured sophomore standout Yibari Nwidadah while freshman Liz Boyd left the game with an injury and did not return.
Tiani Ellison led a balanced attack for the Griffons with 15 points off the bench. Brionna Budgetts had 14 and Connie Clarke had eight points and 15 rebounds.
The Ichabods play one more at home against Northwest Missouri State on Saturday at 1 p.m. before going back on the road.
MISSOURI WESTERN WOMEN 72, WASHBURN WOMEN 59
Missouri Western 20 18 14 20 -- 72
Washburn 12 14 11 22 -- 59
MISSOURI WESTERN (18-4, 13-3)
Fultz 2-6 2-2 6, Gonzalez 1-5 0-0 2, Clarke 3-9 2-5 8, Jackson 2-7 6-8 11, Budgetts 4-12 4-4 14, Ellison 7-10 1-1 15, Hart 2-3 0-0 5, Cunningham 2-5 0-0 5, Bonilla 0-0 0-0 0, Boyland 2-3 2-2 6, Caron 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-60 17-22 72.
WASHBURN (11-10, 6-10)
McKenzie 3-7 4-6 10, Gamble 3-6 2-4 9, Dewey 4-18 2-2 10, Wayne 0-5 0-0 0, Davison 4-8 6-6 14, Giovannetti 1-8 2-2 5, Schieferecke 1-3 0-0 3, Boyd 1-2 0-0 2, Amekperfor 3-4 0-0 6. Totals 20-61 16-20 59.
3-point goals -- Missouri Western 5-20 (Budgetts 2-7, Jackson 1-4, Hart 1-2, Cunningham 1-3, Fultz 0-2, Gonzalez 0-2), Washburn 3-14 (Gamble 1-4, Giovannetti 1-3, Schieferecke 1-1, Dewey 0-2, Wayne 0-3, Davison 0-1). Rebounds -- Missouri Western 41 (Clarke 15), Washburn 36 (McKenzie 8). Assists -- Missouri Western 14 (Gonzalez 5), Washburn 8 (Davison 3). Turnovers -- Missouri Western 15, Washburn 15. Total fouls -- Missouri Western 21, Washburn 20. Fouled out -- Wayne, Giovannetti. Technical fouls -- none.
