By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
The 11th-ranked Washburn University men's basketball team will host No. 17 Oklahoma Baptist Tuesday at Lee Arena (7 p.m. tipoff), with the Ichabods looking to keep their momentum going after Saturday's 90-47 non-league win over Baker.
Washburn will take a 2-2 record into Tuesday's game while Oklahoma Baptist is 2-1 on the season.
Washburn won its 32nd consecutive home-opener on Saturday against Baker, with former Hayden standout Levi Braun scoring a career-high 21 points while Jalen Lewis contributed 14 points as the Ichabods hit nine 3-pointers.
Levi Braun
Defensively, the Ichabods forced the Wildcats to turn the ball over 26 times, with Isaiah Thorne, Azeem Ross and Kevaughn Ellis recording three steals apiece. Thirty-one percent of the points scored for the Ichabods were off turnovers.
The short-handed Ichabods also got 55 of their 90 points tallied on Saturday.
The Bison are coming off of a nail-biting 74-71 loss against Missouri Western State in St. Joseph, Mo.
Baptist's backcourt duo Brantly Thompson and Burke Putnam had 37 points, three steals, seven assists, and four 3-point shots.
Baptist’s two wins on the year were against Wayne State and Minnesota State-Moorhead. The win against Moorhead was in double overtime and the win against Wayne State was a convincing 13-point victory.
Oklahoma Baptist has seen impressive production from guards Putnam and Thompson so far this year. Putnam is averaging 25 points a game, seven rebounds and shooting 50 percent from the 3-point line while Thompson is averaging 18.7 points, 4.7 assists and shooting 71 percent from the free throw line.
Baptist forward Nigel Wilcox is averaging 8.3 rebounds a game.
As a team the Bison average 78.3 points, 43.7 rebounds, 12.7 assists and 14.3 points off of turnovers.
Following the big win against Baker, the Ichabods are looking to feed off of the momentum from the victory.
Washburn’s 51 percent shooting from the field last Saturday was a big step forward for the Ichabods, who have scored 53 points off turnovers.
Lewis is averaging a team-high 12.3 points for Washburn and hasn’t missed a free throw opportunity.
Braun has been a reliable shooter from the field, leading the team with 60-percent shooting.
Washburn got a spark from Rathen Carter last Saturday in his first start of the season, with Carter scoring seven of Washburn's first 12 points. In Carter’s 20 minutes played, he didn’t miss a shot.
Washburn has played all but two minutes this season without All-America guard Tyler Geiman (ankle injury) while post player Jonny Clausing has not played at all (foot).
