TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabods moved to 2-0 in the MIAA and 7-1 overall with a 70-50 win over Central Missouri on Saturday afternoon in Lee Arena. Washburn will now step out of MIAA play heading to Las Vegas with games on Dec. 17 against No. 7-ranked West Texas A&M and No. 25-ranked Indianapolis the following day before wrapping up non-conference play back in Lee Arena against Avila on Dec. 30.
 
With Central Missouri (5-4, 0-2 MIAA) leading 18-16 with 8:04 to play in the opening half, Washburn would outscore the Mules 23 to 4 the remainder of the frame taking a 39-22 lead into the locker room. Washburn held the Mules to 9 of 25 shooting for the first half and 1 of 9 shooting during the closing run.
 
The Mules scored the seven of the first nine points of the second half leading to an Ichabod timeout and then responded by hitting six of their next nine shots and a pair of free throws pushing their lead back to 21 leading by as many as 26 in the game snapping a two-game winning streak by the Mules in the series.
 
Washburn was led in a balanced scoring attack with Javion Blake scoring 12 points while David Salach scored 11 along with Tyler Geiman and Sevon Witt scored 10 off the bench. Geimna had six assists and Will McKee led the Ichabods with 11 rebounds adding three blocks, four assists and four points.
 
UCM was led by Brandon Emmert who had 11 points as the only Mule to reach double figures.
 
Washburn outshot the Mules 41 percent to 36 percent and held a 41 to 33 advantage on the glass outscoring UCM 34 to 20 in the paint and the Ichabod bench held a 30 to 22 margin in points. Washburn finished 10 of 26 from 3-point range after going 8 of 14 in the first half. UCM was 14 of 25 from the free throw line while the Ichabods hit on 6 of 7 attempts.