TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Washburn Ichabods held off a huge rally by Northeastern State in the second half to pick up an 88-86 win in overtime over the RiverHawks wrapping up the regular season 20-8 and 14-5 in the MIAA.  The Washburn Ichabods will be the No. 3 seed and play the winner of the No. 6/No. 11 first round game on Friday at noon in Kansas City at Municipal Auditorium. Tickets can purchased by calling the Washburn Ticket office at 785-670-2637 (BODS).
 
After the Ichabods let a 20-point second half lead slip away sending the game to overtime, a drive by Randall Smith put the Ichabods up two at 78-76. The RiverHawks came up empty on their next trip and Tyas Martin hit a pair of free throws pushing the lead to 80-76 with 3:58 to go. The teams traded free throws and buckets. With WU leading by two, Brady Skeens hit one of two free throws with 1:59 to go up three at 86-83. Wiggins was then called for a foul on a 3-point attempt by Jamir Andrews and would hit all three free throws to tie the score at 86 with 1:40 to play.
 
Smith went to the lane with 1:11 to go and hit one to put the Ichabods up 87-86 with 1:11 to play in the game. The RiverHawks came up empty on their next attempt as did the Ichabods.
 
Drew Pyle hit a free throw with two seconds to play to put WU up 88-86 and NSU came up empty as the Ichabods intercepted the ensuing inbounds pass hanging on the for the win.
 
Washburn stretched its lead out to as many as 20 in the second half before the RiverHawks would chip away at the lead cutting it to six with 10:15 to go after scoring 10-straight points. Washburn built the lead back to 12 with 6:33 to go after a free throw by Brady Skeens following a 3-pointer by Cameron Wiggins.
 
However the RiverHawks came back with five straight points trimming the Ichabod lead to seven with 5:08 to play. The run continued to cut the lead back to four, but a Skeens bucket pushed it back to six with 4:16 to go.
 
Neither team would score until a baseline jumper by Jace Williams pushed the margin back to eight with 2:38 left, but Jamir Andrews hit a 3 from the top of the key with 2:18 to go cut the lead back to five.
 
After a timeout by the RiverHawks, Williams hit both free throws to put Washburn up 75-70 with 1:36 to go. The Ichabods committed a foul on a 3-point attempt with 1:03 to go and Andrews hit all three attempts cutting the lead to two with 1:03 to go.
 
Wiggins was fouled with 21 seconds to play in the game and hit one to go up three, but a 3-pointer by Tanner Mouse knotted the score at 76 sending the game to overtime.
 
In the first half, the Ichabods led by as many as 21 at after running a 1-point lead at 16-15 into an 18-point lead going on a 17-0 run over a 4:40 run as Washburn hit 5 of 9 from the field including 2 of 3 from deep while holding the RiverHawks 0 of 7 from the field. Washburn would go on to lead by 14 at the break taking a 48-34 advantage into the locker room paced by Tyler Geiman's nine points hitting all three of his 3-point attempts in the frame.
 
Washburn was outscored 42 to 28 in the second half helping the RiverHawks rally to push the game to overtime.
 
Skeens led the Ichabods with 18 points and 10 rebounds for his 37^th career double double adding two assists. Cameron Wiggins has 12 points followed by Geiman's 11 points. Blake had 10 points before fouling out and Martin had 10.
 
Andrews scored a career-high 39 points hitting nine 3-pointers.
 
Washburn shot 50 percent in the game going 29 of 58 from the field. In the overtime period Washburn was 3 of 5 from the field and NSU was 1 of 3 in the extra frame.
 
Washburn's bench outscored the NSU bench 33 to 17.