TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabod men's basketball team jumped out to a 21-5 lead over Northeastern State building a lead as many as 36 midway through the second half and never looked back in an 87-60 Valentine's Day victory. The Ichabods improve to 18-5 with the win and 11-3 in the MIAA to remain in sole possession of second place in the league race. The Ichabods will play host to Central Oklahoma on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
 
The Ichabods shot a blistering 73 percent in the first half from the field and connected on 11 of 13 3-point attempts for an 85 percent average while building a 48-22 lead at the end of the first half. Washburn held the RiverHawks (12-11, 6-8 MIAA) shooting in the opening frame. Washburn hit 7 of its first 9 shots from the field and 5 of its first 16 3-point attempts en route to 17 3-pointers on the evening – one shy of the school record set earlier this season against Southwest Baptist in Lee Arena.
 
In the second half, the RiverHawks would get no closer than 22 with 1:38 to go in the game.
 
Javion Blake led the Ichabods with 16 points on 6 of 7 shooting with two assists in 28 minutes of play. Blake upped his career scoring total to 1,656 passing Harold Brown (1970-74) and Ryan Murphy (1999-2003) to move into fourth place all-time on the Ichabod scoring chart. Next on the list is Will McNeill (2008-13) who scored 1,701 points in 117 games.
 
Jalen Lewis scored 14 off the bench hitting four 3-pointers in six attempts. Devyn Wilson scored 12 points and Will McKee added 11 points with a game-high nine rebounds. Tyler Geiman scored seven points and dished out nine assists. David Salach scored nine points with six boards, two assists and two blocks.
 
Caleb Smith led the RiverHawks with 22 points.
 
Washburn outrebounded the NSU 36 to 30 and turned 14 RiverHawk turnovers into 20 points. Washburn had 23 assists on 32 buckets and finished the game 32 of 57 from the field for a 56 percent clip while NSU was 24 of 57 for a 42 percent average.