Game Information Game #22 Matchup: Washburn (12-9, 6-8 MIAA) vs No. 3 Fort Hays State (17-3, 11-2 MIAA) Date: Saturday, Feb. 6, 2010 Time: 7:30 p.m. CST Site: Site: Topeka, Kan. - Lee Arena (3,974) Radio: KTPK 106.9 FM Radio: KTPK 106.9 FM Live Stats: wusports.com Live Video: b2networks Rankings: Washburn is unranked the NABC Top 25 Coaches Poll. FHSU is ranked No. 8 the NABC Top 25 Coaches Poll.

Washburn Ichabods Polls NR in NABC NCAA Division II Poll Head Coach: #Bob Chipman# Alma Mater: Kansas State, 1973 WU Record:    674-273, 31st season Career Record: 674-273, 31st season Basketball Page Roster Statistics Schedule Game Notes Media Guide Athletic Web Site

Fort Hays State Tigers Polls #8 in NABC NCAA Division II Poll Head Coach: Mark Johnson Alma Mater: Pittsburg State, 1993 Record: 175-78, 9th season School Record: same Basketball Page Roster Statistics Schedule Game Notes Media Guide Athletic Web Site

Setting the scene . . .
The Washburn Ichabods (12-9, 6-8 MIAA) will play host to No. 3 ranked Fort Hays State (17-3, 11-2) on Saturday night in Lee Arena. The Ichabods are coming off a 62-53 win at Truman on Wednesday night while the Tigers, who have lost their last two games on the road at Northwest Missouri and Missouri Western, have not played since the Monday night loss to the Griffons. The Tigers won the first meeting with the Ichabods on Dec. 30 in Hays 68-55. Saturday night will also be the reunion of the 1984-85 Ichabod basketball team - the first squad to play in Lee Arena 25 years ago. As of Thursday, nine players and four coaches will be honored at halftime of the Ichabod game with the Tigers. After the game with FHSU, the Ichabods will have two more home games as they will face Central Missouri on Feb. 10 and Southwest Baptist on Feb. 13 before traveling to Missouri Southern on Feb. 17 returning to Lee Arena for the final regular season home game against Pittsburg State. The Ichabods will wrap up the regular season at Emporia State on Feb. 24.

Ichabods on Radio . . .
Ichabod games will be broadcast live on KTPK 106.9 FM. The game can also be heard on the internet at www.wusports.com by following the “Live Audio” link under basketball. Bruce Steinbrock will be the play-by-play voice of the Ichabods and former WU quarterback Mark Elliott will be the color analyst. Pregame show starts 15 minutes prior to tip.

The Coaches. . .
Washburn Ichabod head basketball coach #Bob Chipman# is in his 31st season at the helm of the Ichabod basketball program. For 24 years now Chipman has been the winningest coach in school history and in 2006-07 he became the second winningest coach as a member of the MIAA. Chipman is 674-273 (.716) overall and he has 427 wins since the Ichabods joined the MIAA - the most of any teams in the league since the 1991-92 season. Chipman is 28-23 against Fort Hays State.
Fort Hays State head coach Mark Johnson is in his ninth season as head coach of the Tigers. Johnson became the 14th men's basketball coach in the school's history on July 13, 2001. He has compiled a career record of 175-78. He ranks among the top 20 active NCAA Division II men's basketball coaches in winning percentage (.678). Johnson has guided the Tigers to three NCAA Tournament appearances in his time at FHSU. He is 7-2 against the Ichabods.
 
Last time out for the Ichabods . . .
KIRKSVILLE, Mo. -- The Washburn Ichabods rallied from a halftime deficit holding the Truman Bulldogs without a field goal for the final 5:09 of the game and connected on all eight free throw attempts in the final eight minutes leading to a 62-53 win in Pershing Arena.
After the Bulldogs cut the lead to three and  eventually tie the score at Tom Norton hit  back-to-back 3-pointers knotting the score at 47  with 7:16 to go in the game.
Truman tied the score at 52 with 2:49 to go after  Stefan Garrison hit one of two free throws and 15  seconds later William McNeill scored on a jumper putting  the Ichabods back up two at 54-52 with 2:34 to go  in the game.
Truman's Ethan Freeman hit a one of two free  throws to cut the lead to one at 54-53, but  McMeill hit two free throws after a foul on Vesko Filchev with 1:57 putting the Ichabods up three  at 56-53.
A 3-point attempt by Norton for the Bulldogs was rebounded by Nate Daniels and the Ichabods called a timout with 56 seconds to go clinging to a three-point lead.
De'Andre Washington was fouled with 43 seconds remaining and hit both free throws putting the Ichabods up five at 58-53. He added two more free throws after a Bulldog foul with 24 seconds left putting Washburn up 60-53 helping secure the nine-point win.
The Ichabods used an 11-0 run turning a 28-26  Bulldog lead into a nine-point cushing at 37-28  with 15:25 to go in the game capped by a fast  break layup by Daniels off an assist from Bobby Chipman via a Truman turnover thanks to a steal from McNeill. However the Bulldogs rallied a trimmed the lead back to five at 37-32.  Truman cut the lead to three at 41-38 with under 11 minutes left but a lay up by Logan Stutz  pushed the lead back to five.
The Ichabods trailed 25-23 at the half after they  were limited to 8 of 32 shooting from the field.  The Bulldogs were 10 of 31 from the field. Each  team recorded 23 rebounds. The Ichabod starters  in the first half were 3 of 20 from the field  while the Washburn players coming off the bench  were 5 of 12 scoring 15 of the 23 points in the  half.
Washington, McNeill and Stutz each scored 12 points to lead the Ichabods. Stutz recorded his second double double of the season with a game-high 10 rebounds. Daniels added a total of 10 points with five rebounds.
Ethan Freeman, Norton and Alex Henderson each had 11 to pace the Bulldogs.
The Ichabods finished the game 20 of 22 from the field going 14 of 15 in the second half hitting 91 percent for the contest. Truman finished 5 of 9 from the charity stripe. Washburn was 2 of 9 from 3-point range while the Bulldogs were 8 of 21 hitting 5 of 12 attempts in the second half.
Washburn led the Bulldogs on the boards outrebounding the host team 41 to 32 while recording 14 offensive rebounds leading to 10 second chance points for the Ichabods. Washburn also outscored the Bulldogs 32 to 18 in the paint, 6 to 0 in fast break points and a whopping 28 to 6 in bench points.

About Fort Hays State . . .
The Tigers are 17-3 this season and 11-2 in the MIAA. The Tigers, who were ranked No. 8 in the latest NABC top 25 coaches poll, have lost their last two games falling at Northwest Missouri on Jan. 30 (62-59) and at Missouri Western on Feb. 1 (75-69). Dominque Jones and Corbin Kuntzsch lead the team with 13.8 ppg averages. Ken Bowman, who played for Washburn assistant coach Dave Brown at Hutchinson Community College last season, is scoring 10.4 ppg. Willie Hassell is scoring 10.0 ppg. The Tigers are averaging 78.8 ppg and allowing 62.9 ppg. They have hit 43 percent of their 3-point attempts connecting on 148 of 346 with Jones leading the squad nailing 49 percent of his attempts hitting 44 of 90 … in conference play he is hitting 56 percent connecting on 34 of 61 attempts.

Last time out for the Tigers . . .
(Feb. 1, 2010) The No. 3 ranked Fort Hays State men's basketball team played at Missouri Western on Monday evening (Feb. 1) in St. Joseph, Mo. The Tigers headed to the Northwest corner of Missouri this past weekend unbeaten in conference play, but the Tigers dropped their second straight road game in three days as they fell to the Griffons by a score of 75-69. The Tigers are now second in the MIAA, one game back of Central Missouri.
For the second straight game, the Tigers held a narrow halftime lead, but could not pull away in the second half. Fort Hays State led 29-26 at halftime, but the Griffons caught fire offensively in the second half, outscoring FHSU 49-40. Missouri Western shot 59.1 percent from the field in the second half and 50 percent overall to stay unbeaten at home in conference play this year.
Coming into the road stretch in Missouri, the Tigers were second in the nation in 3-point shooting percentage at just over 45 percent for the year. The Tigers shot their worst percentage of the year beyond the arc at Northwest Missouri on Saturday, then shot just 35 percent beyond the arc against Missouri Western Monday night. The Tigers hit just 7-of-20 attempts from long range.
Three of those 3-point field goals came from Willie Hassell late in the second half to pull the Tigers back to within striking distance after Missouri Western's lead grew to 10 points with 4:36 remaining. It was too little, too late though as the Griffons held off Fort Hays State's late rally attempt.
Missouri Western (14-7, 9-5 MIAA) entered the game as the worst free-throw shooting team in the conference, but virtually won the game at the charity stripe hitting 23-of-32 attempts (71.9 percent). The Griffons were 80 percent from the stripe in the second half, hitting the shots when they mattered most. The Griffons scored 13 more points than the Tigers at the free-throw line. The Tigers were a dismal 10-of-19 (52.6 percent) at the foul line on the evening, missing too many at crucial junctures of the game.
Dominique Jones led the Tigers in scoring with 14 points. He started the game 5-of-5 from the field, but cooled down the stretch to 6-of-9 shooting overall. Corbin Kuntzsch had 13, followed by Willie Hassell with 11 and Dijon Smith with 10.
The Griffons were very balanced in scoring, led by James Bush with 14. Four others reached double figures, which included Quentin Noblin and Marcus Rhodes each with 13, Dominique Thuston with 12, and Mike DeWalt with 10.

Series Notes with Fort Hays State . . .
Saturday's meeting will be the 147th meeting in the series history and Washburn leads 83-63. The series is the third most played for Washburn behind Emporia State (193) and Pittsburg State (162). Washburn is 15-3 against the Tigers in Lee Arena. Fort Hays State is 4-2 against WU in overtime games. The two squads split the pair of games last season with each team winning on its own home court with the Ichabods winning in Topeka 82-66 and Fort Hays State winning 68-60 in Hays. The Ichabods have lost their last five games in Gross Memorial Coliseum and have not won in Hays since an 84-75 victory on Nov. 28, 1998 prior to the Tigers joining the MIAA.

Last Meeting with Fort Hays State . . .
(Dec. 30, 2009) -- HAYS, Kan. -- A second half comeback attempt fell short as the Washburn Ichabods dropped a 68-55 decision to No. 13-ranked Fort Hays State. The Ichabods will be back in action in the second of three straight games against nationally-ranked teams on the road when they travel to No. 1-ranked Central Missouri on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. in Warrensburg.
The Ichabods (7-5, 1-4 MIAA) cut the 10-point halftime lead to six at 41-35 with 13:58 to go before the Tigers (10-1, 4-0 MIAA) pushed the lead back to 13 in the half with just over eight minutes to go. The Ichabods worked the deficit to eight at 59-51 on a 3-pointer by Nate Wallace with 5:11 to go, but the Tigers responded with a 3-pointer of their own and the Ichabods would get no closer than nine the rest of the way.
The first half saw the Ichabods fall behind by as many as 13 at the 6:55 mark of the half before cutting the Fort Hays State advantage to seven on two difference ocassions before a late 3-pointer by the Tigers' Willie Hassell put the Tigers up 10 at 36-26 which was the score going into the break. The Ichabods were 10 of 27 in the half while the Tigers finished the opening stanza 15 of 28 for a 53 percent clip. The Tigers also hit 4 of 3 3-point attempts while Washburn was 3 of 10.
The Ichabods were led by De'Andre Washington who scored 18 points with a team-high seven rebounds. Wallace finished in double figures with 15 points on 6 of 8 shooting from the field including a 3 of 3 performance from 3-point range.
Dominique Jones scored a team-high 21 points off the bench to pace the Tigers. Ken Bowman had a double double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
The Ichabods finished the game shooting 40 percent from the field hitting 20 of 50 attempts while the Tigers were 25 of 48 for a 52 percent average.
Washburn struggled from the free throw line hitting 8 of 18 attempts while committing 14 turnovers leading to 10 points for the Tigers.
Fort Hays held a 36 to 28 advantage on the glass as the Tiger reserves outscored the Ichabod bench 30 to 5.

Ichabod notes . . .
#2  • #De'Andre Washington#  • F • 6-5 • 235 • Jr.  • Leads the team with a +/- ranking of +113 this season
#3  • #Virgil Philistin#  • G • 6-2 • 205 • Jr.  • Averaging 4.0 ppg with 2.5 rpg in last four contests
#5  • #Mitch Allen#  • G • 5-9 • 165 • Fr.  • Set new highs with 9 pts, 21 minutes, 2 FG's, 4 FT's, 5 FTA's against MWSU
#10  • #William McNeill#  • G • 6-0 • 190 • So.  • All six rebounds against Truman were on the offensive end and four were in 2nd half
#12  • #Maurice Colter#  • G • 5-10 • 175 • Jr.  • Averaging 6.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 1.8 apg in last four games
#14  • #Logan Stutz#  • F • 6-9 • 205 • Jr.  • Recorded second double double of season with 12 points and 10 rebounds at Truman
#20  • #Bobby Chipman#  • F • 6-8 • 210 • Fr.  • At least one block in 5 of last 6 games (averaging 1.2 per game)
#21  • #Bryce Simons#  • G • 6-3 • 195 • Fr.  • Six of 10 from 3-point range in last four games averaging 5.3 ppg during stretch
#22  • #Steve Feighny#  • F • 6-5 • 215 • So.  • Has hit 5 of last 6 free throw attempts
#23  • #Dezahn Otis#  • G • 6-3 • 180 • Jr.  • 15 of 20 from the free throw line this season
#24  • #Anthony Nocito#  • F • 6-8 • 240 • Jr.  • Hit only 3-point field attempt against ESU last time out
#32  • #Todd Eils#  • G • 6-2 • 175 • Rf.  • Has played in seven games this season seeing 13 minutes of playing time with 1 steal
#33  • #Nate Daniels#  • G • 6-3 • 190 • Jr.  • Nine of 20 in the last three games (4 of 7 from 3-point range)
#35  • #Jordan Lambkins#  • G • 6-2 • 190 • Fr.  • Will redshirt this season

Three-second calls ... rapid-fire notes
The Ichabods are shooing 45 percent in the second half of games hitting 279 of 622 shots while hitting 42 percent of their attempts in the first half hitting 264 of 634 … Washburn is outrebounding their opponents 387 to 325 (18.4 to 15.5) in the second half this season … De'Andre Washington is hitting 17 of 42 3-pointers in the second half compared to 12 of 35 in the first half … Washburn's bench has outscored their opponents bench 553 to 385 this season (26.3 to 18.3) … the Ichabods have had 147 fast break points compared to 88 for their opponents including a season-high 16 against St. Mary … the Ichabods are outscoring their opponents 683 to 496 in the paint this season … in the Ichabods' win over Central Washington, it was the second time WU fought back for a victory when trailing by nine points (Bethany was the other) … nine of the 12 rebounds William McNeill has recorded in the last five minutes of games this season have been on the offensive end of the court … Washington's eight double doubles this season are the most by an Ichabod in a single season since Travis Robbins recorded 11 during the 2004-05 season and Ewan Auguste had 10 during the 1999-2000 season …  the Ichabods are averaging 76.9 ppg in home games and 65.0 ppg in away games … Logan Stutz is averaging 13.2 ppg and 5.3 rpg as a starter and 5.5 ppg and 3.8 rpg coming off the bench … the Ichabods have used seven different line ups this season … Washburn is 72 of 94 (.766) from the free throw line in the last five minutes of games … Ichabod opponents are 109 of 150 (.727) in the same time span … Washburn is 9-0 when leading at the half this season … nearly half of Nate Daniels' 99 career field goals have been 3-pointers (47) … William McNeill has moved into 23rd on Washburn's all-time steal chart with 77 … McNeill has had five steals in three different games this season … McNeill also went over the 400-point plateau in his career … Logan Stutz has averaged 7.0 ppg and 4.0 rbpg in two games against Fort Hays State going 8 of 11 from the free throw line.

The Ichabod Nugget of the Day. . .
The Ichabods have used 212 different line up combinations this season … the starting unit of De'Andre Washington, Maurice Colter, Bobby Chipman, Bryce Simons and William McNeill have played the most of any combo playing just over 77 minutes of action together this season.
Ichabod Basketball History . . .
Washburn is 1,372-958 (.682 in 2,329 games) in its 104th season of intercollegiate action. The Ichabods are the ninth-winningest team in NCAA Division II history and the 26th winningest team this decade. The Ichabods are 430-186 since joining the NCAA Division II ranks, which is the most since the 1989-90 season in the MIAA.

Ichabods In Lee Arena . . .
The Ichabods are 339-61 (.848) all-time in Lee Arena - the 26th season of play. The Ichabods recorded a school-best 28-game winning streak from Nov. 19, 1993 to Feb. 8, 1995 in Lee Arena. The Ichabods have won 15 straight regular season non-conference home games and 38 of their last 41 regular season non-conference games home.

Speaking of Lee Arena . . .
In the 26th season of play, the very first team to play in the arena, the 1984-85 squad has been invited back for a 25-year celebration on Feb. 6 when the Ichabods play host to Fort Hays State. So far, those scheduled to attend are: Gary Carrier, Tommy Meier, Kevin Downing, Kelley Gross, Torrey Head, Rob Reilly, Monty Suther, Ted Versluys, Al Dean along with assistant coaches Steve Anson, Doug Hutchinson and Ron McHenry.

Up Next . . .
After the game with FHSU, the Ichabods will have two more home games as they will face Central Missouri on Feb. 10 and Southwest Baptist on Feb. 13 before traveling to Missouri Southern on Feb. 17 returning to Lee Arena for the final regular season home game against Pittsburg State. The Ichabods will wrap up the regular season at Emporia State on Feb. 24.