TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabods had their second half rally come up short after trailing by 20 during the game in a 72-67 loss to Lincoln on Saturday in Lee Arena. Washburn returns to the court on Thursday at Missouri Southern.
 
Washburn (5-8, 2-5 MIAA) trailed 43-29 at the break before a 6-0 run by the Ichabods closed the margin to 14. With 16:23 to go, Lincoln's Artese Stapleton hit a 3-pointer pushing the lead to 16 at 54-38, but the Ichabods would respond with a 14-2 run over the next 4:55 to cut the Blue Tiger lead to four at 56-52.
 
However, the Ichabods would go scoreless over the next 5:01 going 1 of 6 from the field as Lincoln (8-4, 4-4 MIAA) stretched its lead back to eight at 62-54 with 4:58 remaining. Washburn outscored the Blue Tigers 8-4 capped by a 3-pointer by Tyler Nelson with 58 seconds left cutting the lead back to 66-62 but the teams played basically even the rest of the way with the Blue Tigers outscoring the ichabods 6-5 to hang on for the win.
 
Washburn was led by Nelson who scored a game-high 18 points. Levi Braun scored 16 and Michael Keegan had 13. Brady Christiansen had 11 rebounds with four offensive ones adding nine points. DJ Richardson led the Blue Tigers with 17.
 
Washburn finished 25 of 57 from the field while Lincoln was 24 of 54. The Blue Tigers hit 10 of 26 from 3-point range while the Ichabods were 4 of 18 overall. Lincoln outrebounded the Ichabods 36 to 31. Washburn scored 40 of its 67 points in the paint.