TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabod men's basketball team ushered in the 2022 calendar season with a 76-64 win over Missouri Western on Saturday afternoon in Lee Arena. Washburn will be back in action on Thursday at Missouri Southern starting a two-game road trip wrapping up with Pittsburg State on Jan. 15. Washburn's game with Northwest Missouri has been rescheduled for Jan. 17 in Lee Arena at 7:30 p.m. following the women's game scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
 
The Ichabods trailed 5-0 to start the game but a 14-2 run over the next 3:15 pushed Washburn up 14-7 as the Griffons led for only 1:53 of the game as the Ichabods took a 40-25 lead into the break as Jalen Lewis connected on one of his six 3-pointers on the day to end the first stanza scoring.
 
In the second half the Ichabods (8-6, 5-3 MIAA) would lead by as many as 20 in the second half with 14 minutes to play over the Griffons (8-8, 4-4 MIAA) who would cut the lead back down to nine with 1:22 to play after a 14-5 run but it would be as close as Missouri Western would get in the 12-point win for the Ichabods in their third-straight win over the Griffons.
 
Lewis, who scored 20 points in the first half, led all scorers with 25 points going 6 of 12 from deep. Michael Keegan had 14 points and Tyler Nelson had 10 off the bench. Tyler Geiman had seven points with eight assists and six rebounds. He also became the second Ichabod in program history to go over the 600-assist plateau joining Jordan Canfield who finished with a school-record 756 assists.
 
JaQualon Mays led the Griffons with 23 points and Will Eames had 15.
 
Washburn finished 26 of 67 from the field while hitting 12 of 29 shots from 3-point range and 12 of 18 from the charity stripe. The Griffons were 24 of 59 and 8 of 27 from 3-point range going 8 of 13 from the line.