TOPEKA, Kan. -- The Washburn Ichabod men's basketball team fell in overtime to Nebraska-Kearney 87-86 on Thursday on Schendel Court at Lee Arena in a game which saw 16 lead changes and 19 ties. The Ichabods will return to action on Saturday when they will host Fort Hays State at 7 p.m.

Neither team scored in the first minute of the overtime period until Christian Ulsaker hit a pair of free throws with four minutes to play in the game staking the Ichabods to a 78-76 lead. The Lopers hit a layup and a 3-pointer and added a free throw over the next 1:39 as UNK took an 82-78 lead with 1:19 to play. A 3-pointer by Alex North with 57 seconds to play cut the lead to one. UNK would go up by four with nine seconds to play and then with three seconds left a layup by Kyle Wiggins cut the lead to two at 85-83. After a quick foul by the Ichabods, the Lopers hit two free throws to go up four 87-83 and Wiggins hit a 3 at the buzzer to cut the final margin to one as time expired on Washburn.

Washburn (10-12, 5-6 MIAA) and the Lopers (13-5, 8-3 MIAA) were tied at the half as well at 34 each after neither team would lead by more than six in the game.

Wiggins led all scorers with a game-high 28 points on 10 of 17 shooting from the field playing a career-high 41 minutes. North scored 17 adding nine rebounds to move his career point total to 996 as an Ichabod. Jeremy Lickteig and Christian Ulsaker each scored nine and Ulsaker recorded a career-high six assists and career-high four steals. Algie Key had a career-high three blocks. 

Ethan Brozek led five Lopers in double figures with 23 points. Connor Beranek had 19 and Ty Danielson had 15.

Washburn was 30 of 63 for the game for a 48 percent average while the Lopers were 31 of 63 for a 49 percent clip. The Lopers shot 46 percent from 3-point range going 10 of 22 overall while Washburn was 5 of 15. The Ichabods were 21 of 27 from the free throw line while the Lopers finished 15 of 22. The Lopers also held a 34 to 32 advantage on the glass turning 12 offensive rebounds into 13 second chance points.

Kyle Wiggins after the loss to Nebraska-Kearney after scoring 28 points