By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University junior standout Andrew Orr hit second of two free throw attempts with 1.4 seconds left to give the Ichabods a 70-69 MIAA win at Lincoln on Saturday afternoon.
Washburn junior Andrew Orr scored 18 points and hit the game-winning free throw in the Ichabods' 70-69 wn at Lincoln on Saturday. [File photo/TSN]
The 6-foot-8 Orr, one of the nation's top free throw shooters, missed his first attempt before draining the second to give the Ichabods their final margin.
"He's a great free throw shooter so I would have liked him to make the first one, but he made the one that counted,'' Washburn coach Brett Ballard told KTPK Radio.
The Ichabods trailed by as many as 11 in the first half at 33-22 with 5:07 to play before cutting the Lincoln lead down to eight, but a 3-point play by Elijah Farr pushed the lead back to 10 with 3:14 to go. A dunk by Jarmell Johnson jump-started a 6-0 run to end the half, cutting the Blue Tiger advantage back to four at 37-33.
The Ichabods scored the first five points of the second half, all by junior Michael Keegan on a 3-pointer and a layup, as Washburn took a 40-37 lead.
Lincoln answered to push its lead out to four at 48-44 before buckets by Johnson and Orr tied the score at 48 with 12:16 to go. But the Blue Tigers came back with a 3-pointer to stretch the lead back to three at 51-48.
Lincoln pushed its lead back to 11 (61-50) with 7:06 with a 13-2 run before a 3-pointer by Jack Bachelor broke an 0 for 9 shooting drought by the Ichabods with 6:23 to play.
A 3-point play by Orr pulled the Ichabods within a 63-61 deficit with 3:45 to play. The teams traded empty trips on the offensive end before Orr tied the score at 63 with a layup with 2:06 remaining.
With 1:30 left, Orr connected on another layup, putting Washburn up two at 65-63. The Ichabods were fouled and Sam Ungashick connected on both free throws with 16 seconds to go as Ichabods moved their lead to four at 69-65. Lincoln cut the lead to two on its next possession..
Lincoln converted a layup off an Ichabod turnover to the score at 69 with four seconds left to play, but Orr was fouled with 1.4 left after Jack Bachelor quickly inbounded the ball to Keegan who fed it to Orr, leading to the winning free throw.
"Jack Bachelor has the awareness to get it out quick, Mike gets it and pitches ahead to AO, so to have the awareness to make that play from a freshman, that tells you why he's been playing so well,'' Ballard said. "That was obviously a huge play because that game was getting ready to go to overtime.''
Orr led the Ichabods (10-5 overall, 6-3 MIAA) with a game-high 18 points, going 7 of 9 from the field and adding seven rebounds.
"He was phenomenal,'' Ballard said of Orr. "He had a very efficient game.''
Johnson and Ungashick both had 13 points and Keegan recorded his second double double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds (six offensive) with four assists.
Farr led Lincoln with 16 points.
Washburn finished the game 25 of 64 from the field and was limited to 4 of 15 shooting from 3-point range for the game. The Ichabods were 16 of 23 from the free throw line.
After hitting 13 of 26 shots in the first half, the Blue Tigers cooled off to 33 percent in the second half to finish at 40 percent for the game hitting 11 of 26 shots from 3-point range.
The Ichabods were +10 on the glass, turning 16 offensive rebounds into 25 second-chance points, while outscoring Lincoln (10-5, 5-4 MIAA) 40-26 in the paint and 16-8 in bench points.
Washburn will return to action on Wednesday, hosting Missouri Southern at 7:30 p.m. in Lee Arena.
Aubree Dewey scored 28 points for the second straight game in Saturday's 77-64 WU loss at Incoln. [File photo/TSN]
LINCOLN WOMEN 77, WASHBURN 64
Washburn scored the first two points of the game but did not lead the rest of the way, falling on the road to Lincoln, 77-64.
Lincoln (6-8, 2-6) led 14-10 at the end of the first quarter and scored six straight points to take a double-digit lead at the 6:07 mark of the second quarter.
Washburn (10-5, 5-4) was able to score nine in a row in the final five minutes of the half, capped off by two free throws from Lakyn Schieferecke to make it 26-25 but Lincoln ended the half on an 8-4 run to lead 34-25 at the break.
The Ichabods got no closer than five in the this quarter and the Blue Tigers had another strong end to the quarter, scoring the final five points to push their lead back to 10.
Lincoln scored the first six points in the fourth quarter and its lead did not get below 12 points in the final eight minutes.
Washburn senior point guard Aubree Dewey scored 28 points for the second straight game while sophomore Yibari Nwidadah had eight points and 12 rebounds and Aniah Wayne also had eight points.
Imani Jones led Lincoln with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Saniya Simmons added 13 points.
The Ichabods head back to Topeka to take on Missouri Southern at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
