By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
There was a time Tuesday night, as brief as it might have been, where Washburn's men's basketball team looked like it might be in some trouble against visiting Lincoln.
Leading 42-31 at the half, Washburn saw Lincoln cut a 13-point deficit to a single point (48-47) with 15:07 left, but the Ichabods answered in a hurry, running off 10 straight points to build its advantage back to 11 with 12:25 remaining and Washburn cruised the rest of the way for an 87-72 MIAA win at Lee Arena, improving to 13-3 on the season.
"We didn't finish the (first) half well again and then we had a stretch there kind of towards the beginning of that second half where I thought we played a little cool,'' Washburn coach Brett Ballard said. "There's a fine line between confident and cool and then all of a sudden I looked up and (the Blue Tigers) are back in the game.
"I loved how our guys responded though and went on the run and then kind of kept them at arm's length the rest of the half. This team's explosive offensively and we can go on those runs.''
Junior Jalen Lewis led the way with 20 points as Washburn improved to 13-3 with an 87-72 MIAA win over Lincoln Tuesday night. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
The Ichabods used just seven players for most of Tuesday's game and all seven cracked the scoring column by halftime and four finished in double figures.
Junior Jalen Lewis led the Ichabods with 20 points and hit 3 of 5 3-pointers and all 5 of his free throw attempts, while sophomore Tyler Nelson added 15 points (3 of 6 3s), redshirt freshman Levin Braun 14 (4 of 5 3s) and senior Tyler Geiman 13 points.
Senior Rathen Carter added 8 points and 7 rebounds, tying Geiman for game-high rebounding honors, while Geiman and Nelson both dished out 6 assists as WU had 18 assists as a team.
"We're just continuing to trust each other,'' Lewis said. "We know the work each of put in on a daily basis so coming out it's easy to trust guys, especially when they're making shots.''
And Lewis said he and his teammates don't care whose doing the bulk of the scoring on any given night.
"We know that the goal is to win and we all just try to do whatever it takes to win, so whoever's hot on a certain night that's who we're going to feed,'' Lewis said.
Lincoln (8-8) got 14 points from Charles Wilson and Mekhi Kimble, 12 from Jordan Notch and 10 from Derrick Woods.
Washburn will return to action Saturday at Central Missouri (3 p.m.).
WASHBURN MEN 87, LINCOLN 72
Lincoln 31 41 -- 72
Washburn 42 45 -- 87
LINCOLN (8-8, 8-8)
Woods 5-11 0-0 10, Potts 1-8 4-5 6, Vidal 3-8 1-1 9, Drayton 1-7 2-2 4, Wilson 6-11 1-1 14, Notch 6-8 0-0 12, Ballard 0-2 0-0 0, Kimble 5-9 0-0 14, Yaqubi 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 28-65 8-9 72.
WASHBURN (13-3, 13-3)
Lewis 6-11 5-5 20, Geiman 5-12 2-5 13, Williams 2-3 3-4 7, Carter 3-6 1-2 8, Nelson 5-8 2-5 15, Deffebaugh 3-7 0-1 6, Braun 5-6 0-0 14, Cordes 1-1 0-0 3, Ross 0-0 1-2 1, Davidson 0-0 0-0 0, Blevins 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-54 14-24 87.
3-point goals -- Lincoln 8-22 (Kimble 4-6, Vidal 2-6, Wilson 1-3, Yaqubi 1-1, Woods 0-2, Ballard 0-2, Potts 0-1, Drayton 0-1), Washburn 13-27 (Braun 4-5, Lewis 3-5, Nelson 3-6, Carter 1-3, Cordes 1-1, Geiman 1-5, Deffebaugh 0-2). Rebounds -- Lincoln 34 (Woods 6), Washburn 34 (Carter 7, Geiman 7). Assists -- Lincoln 13 (Potts 3, Vidal 3), Washburn 18 (Geiman 6, Nelson 6). Turnovers -- Lincoln 11, Washburn 12. Total fouls -- Lincoln 17, Washburn 12. Fouled out -- Notch.
