KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A mid second half shooting slump and a hot shooting Readie team was too much for the Ichabods in their season opener as Washburn fell 79-73 to Henderson State on Friday in Kansas City, Mo. at the Central Region Challenge in Municipal Auditorium. Washburn will wrap up the two-day event on Saturday at 7 p.m. facing No. 18-ranked Augustana.
The Ichabods led by eight at 46-38 with 14:43 to play after a jumper by
Zaid Dajani, but over the next five-plus minutes Henderson State would go on a 19-4 run to take a 59-50 lead with just over nine minutes to play.
Washburn (0-1) trimmed the lead to 60-55 with 6:01 to play but again Henderson State (1-0) pushed out to an 11-point lead before the Ichabods cut the lead to six near the end of the frame before time ran out in the six-point loss.
Washburn led 36-29 at the half paced by
Levi Braun's 15 points on 5 of 7 shooting from 3-point range en route to a career-high-tying 21 points matching the 21 he scored against Baker on Nov. 20, 2021. As a team Washburn was 12 of 28 in the half hitting 7 of 14 from deep.
In the second half, Washburn was 15 of 32 overall, but the Readies heated up going 18 of 33 overall and 6 of 10 from deep helping HSU to the win.
Braun finished with a game-high 21 going 7 of 9 from 3-point range and
Connor Deffebaugh scored 15 points and
Andrew Orr scored 10.
Michael Keegan had eight rebounds and
Brady Christiansen had seven.
Washburn finished 27 of 60 overall from the field going 10 of 22 from deep and 9 of 14 from the free throw line. Henderson State was 29 of 66 overall hitting 8 of 21 3-pointers and 13 of 23 free throws.
Henderson State also held a 45 to 31 advantage on the glass turning 18 offensive rebounds into 14 second chance points and scored 18 points off of 15 Ichabod turnovers.
