By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The No. 2-ranked Washburn Ichabods will host the Ottawa Braves at 2 p.m. on Saturday in Lee Arena in their final tuneup up before opening MIAA play next week.
Washburn is 7-0 after rolling to a 105-51 win over Friends on Tuesday while Ottawa is 5-3 this season after dropping an 84-69 decision to McPherson in its last outing.
Former Washburn Rural star Jack Bachelor is averaging a team-high 17.4 points and 5.0 assists for 7-0 Washburn men's basketball. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN
After facing an NAIA foe for the second straight game on Saturday, Washburn will open its MIAA season next Thursday against Nebraska-Kearney and next Saturday against Fort Hays State, with both games in Lee Arena.
"The good thing about this week is we're able to focus a little bit more on ourselves and it's a little more self-scouting than it is on the opponent,'' Washburn coach Brett Ballard said. "We've got to respect those guys, but this has been good to hopefully use this practice time to tighten things up.''
"We look at every day as you're getting better or you're getting worse,'' junior Jack Bachelor said. "So taking steps in practice, taking steps in games and just working together and keep getting better as a team and individually is our goal because we know this MIAA conference is the best in the country, so there's going to be no off nights.''
Washburn's players also got the chance to take a short Thanksgiving break from Wednesday afternoon until returning to practice on Friday.
"This is a little bit of a time for them to re-charge,'' Ballard said. "It's a quick break, but a little bit of a re-charge for the players.''
Both Bachelor and sophomore Dillon Claussen have cracked double figures in all seven games this season and sneior Bryson Smith has scored no fewer than 12 points in each of the last six games, including 22 points in a win over Rockhurst.
Bachelor is averaging a team-high 17.4 points and 5.0 assists while shooting 88.9 percent from the free throw line.
Claussen is averaging 16.4 points and 7.3 rebounds.
Claussen led the way with 19 points against Friends, shooting 9 of 11 from the field while adding six rebounds, two steals, and a block. Bachelor followed with 16 points, six assists, five steals, and three rebounds, while hitting four 3-pointers, and Smith added 14 points, three assists, and three steals.
Off the bench, sophomore Tyson Ruud tied a career-high with 13 points, four rebounds, three blocks, and a steal and freshman Amalachi Wilkins had 12 points, eight rebounds, and four offensive boards in 15 minutes of play, reaching double figures for the second straight game.
Washburn has a 18-game home court winning streak, which is the fifth-longest in the Division II ranks behind Nova Southeastern (89), Lincoln Memorial (25), Miles (21) and Alabama-Huntsville (20).
Tuesday's 54-point win over the Falcons was the eighth-largest victory margin in Washburn's program history.
Rich Martelly leads Ottaws with a 16.3 scoring average while Micah Willis is scoring 15 points per game followed by Landyn Tyler at 12.8 and Cameron Lawson at 11.3.
The Ichabods lead the all-time series with Ottawa 59-17 and have won the last 26 meetings.
Ottawa's last win in the series came on Dec. 29, 1959 in an 85-68 win in Ottawa. The Braves' last win in Topeka came on Jan. 27, 1952 in a 79-53 victory.
Washburn took a 97-57 win over Ottawa last season in Lee Arena.
