By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The No. 13-ranked Washburn men's basketball team bounced back from last Saturday's loss to Emporia State with a decisive 95-69 road victory at Newman Thursday night, improving to 11-2 on the season overall and in the MIAA.
Newman scored the first 3 points of the game, but Washburn scored 11 straight to go up 11-3 with 14:23 left in the half and later added a 10-0 run to take a commanding 44-25 advantage at the break.
"I loved the mindset that we played with the first 15 minutes of the game,'' Washburn coach Brett Ballard told KTPK radio. "I thought we came out and really imposed our will on them on both ends.
"I thought it was going to be important when you come on the road to try to throw that first punch and we got a nice lead built up there and I really thought it set the tone.''
Washburn pushed its lead to 27 points with 17:21 remaining and the Ichabods led by at least 20 points the rest of the night as junior Jalen Lewis scored 23 of his game-high 26 points in the second half.
Washburn shot 68 percent in the second half to finish at 63.5 percent for the night and connected on 12 of 22 attempts from 3-point range.
Lewis was 8 of 14 from the field and 4 of 8 from 3-point range en route to a career-high performance.
"Coaches and teammates have just been trying to encourage me to be more aggressive and that's what I'm trying to change my mindset to do from here on out just to give our team the best chance of winning,'' Lewis told KTPK.
Senior Tyler Geiman added 20 points on 8 of 12 shooting, while senior Jace Williams had 11 points with a team-high 7 rebounds.
The Ichabods played without Jonny Clausing and Will McKee, who are both injured.
The 2-10 Jets were led by Joel Boyce's 25 points.
Washburn will return to action at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Central Oklahoma.
WASHBURN MEN 95, NEWMAN 69
Washburn 44 51 -- 95
Newman 25 44 -- 69
WASHBURN (11-2, 11-2)
Lewis 8-13 6-8 26, Geiman 8-12 3-5 20, Williams 3-6 5-6 11, Carter 4-4 2-2 11, Nelson 4-7 0-0 9, Braun 3-5 0-0 9, Cordes 1-1 0-3 3, Thorne 1-1 0-0 3, Davidson 1-1 0-0 2, Deffebaugh 0-2 1-2 1, Ross 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 33-52 17-26 95.
NEWMAN (2-10, 2-10)
Boyce 9-13 7-7 25, Bunn 3-7 0-1 9, Buskey 2-3 3-4 7, Birnbaum 2-3 0-0 5, Oliva 0-2 0-0 0, Johnson 2-8 3-3 7, Javorsky 2-6 2-2 6, Lee 2-4 0-0 4, Hereford 1-2 0-0 3, Jovanovic 0-4 2-2 2, Agyapong 0-0 1-2 1, Santiago 0-0 0-2 0, Barney 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-52 18-23 69.
3-point goals -- Washburn 12-22 (Lewis 4-8, Braun 3-5, Geiman 1-3, Nelson 1-3, Carter 1-1, Cordes 1-1, Thorne 1-1), Newman 5-17 (Bunn 3-4, Birnbaum 1-1, Hereford 1-1, Javorsky 0-4, Jovanovic 0-3, Lee 0-2, Boyce 0-1, Oliva 0-1). Rebounds -- Washburn 25 (Williams 7), Newman 30 (Boyce 8). Assists -- Washburn 13 (Lewis 3), Newman 5 (5 with 1). Turnovers -- Washburn 10, Newman 18. Total fouls -- Washburn 17, Newman 25. Fouled out -- none.
