BETHANY, Okla. – The Washburn Ichabods were unable to overcome a cold-shooting first half as they fell for the first time this season in a 78-64 loss to No. 10-ranked Southern Nazarene. The Ichabods will open the home slate on Wednesday playing host to Rockhurst at 7 p.m.
Washburn was limited to 9 of 29 shooting in the first half while turning the ball over eight times in the frame as the Crimson Storm (2-0) took a 41-24 lead into the halftime locker room. SNU shot 41 percent going 13 of 32 from the field and 12 of 17 from the free throw line as the Ichabods were 3 of 7 from the charity stripe.
The frigid shooting from the field in the second half continued as Washburn (1-1) started 3 of 13 and 1 of 7 from deep in the second half. Washburn did start to find the range as the Ichabods cut the lead to 14 after
Jalen Lewis scored 11 straight points for Washburn cutting the margin to 56-42 using a 10-2 run.
The Ichabods trimmed the difference to 12 at 60-48 on another 3-pointer by Lewis and then down to 10 at 60-50 with 7:54 to play on a driving layup by
Javion Blake. After SNU went up by 21 back to back 3's by
Drew Pyle and a layup by
Devyn Wilson again cut the margin to 10 with 55 seconds to play using a 13-2 run over a 3:04 stretch forcing a timeout by the Crimson Storm. However SNU went 4 of 4 from the free throw line the rest of the way to keep the Ichabods down by double digits.
Washburn was led by Lewis who scored all 14 of his points in the second half and Blake had 13 points.
David Salach had a career-high 14 rebounds adding six points.
Micha Speight led the Crimson Storm with 16 points and Jhonathan Dunn had 15 while Noah Starkey had 13.
Washburn finished 24 of 66 from the field for a 36 percent clip while improving to 15 of 37 in the second half from the field. Washburn was also 7 of 17 from the free throw line while the Crimson Storm was 19 of 26. SNU was 25 of 57 overall for a 44 percent average from the field. Washburn held a 41 to 40 advantage on the glass in the game. Washburn's bench also outscored SNU 33 to 17.
