EMPORIA, Kan. -- The Washburn Ichabod men's basketball team closed out the regular season losing 86-64 to Emporia State. Washburn will be the No. 8 seed in the MIAA Tournament in Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo., and will take on No. 9 Missouri Western on Wednesday Mar. 1 at noon.
The Ichabods only trailed 34-32 at the half but were outscored 52-32 in the second half as the Hornets completed a sweep of the 2022-23 season series.
Jaden Monday picked up where he left off after scoring a career-high 23 points on Thursday, scoring the first nine points for Washburn including back-to-back 3-pointers to open the game. Monday had 11 of the first 13 points for the Ichabods but his shot was the only one dropping early and Emporia State was able to build a 10-point lead by the 10:43 mark.
Inside the final five minutes of the half jumpers by Monday and Michael Keegan brought the lead down to just one point on two separate occasions but both times the Hornets had a response. Tyler Nelson knocked down a 3-pointer just before halftime with Washburn trailing 34-32.
The Ichabods hung around to start the second half, pulling back within five after a layup by Andrew Orr with 12:56 remaining. Following that basket the Hornets went on a 9-0 all on 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to go up by 14 with 11:15 left.
From that point on the lead never dipped below 10 points. Washburn got it down to that mark twice but both times Emporia State went on a run of their own to create more separation. In the final 90 seconds the Hornets made it a 20-point game and won with the largest lead of the game, 86-64.
Tyler Nelson led the Ichabods with 18 points on 6-11 shooting with 11 points in the second half. Jaden Monday finished with 17 points and had a team-high four assists. Andrew Orr had a near double-double, with 13 points and nine rebounds, Jarmell Johnson had 10 points and seven rebounds off the bench.
Owen Long led Emporia State with 26 points going 9-15 from the field and 6-10 from deep. As a team the Hornets shot 57.4% and drilled 14-27 from long range. Washburn was a respectable 8-21 from beyond the arc but could not make up the difference by the hot shooting Hornets at the free throw line as both teams went 10-13.
On the defensive end it was the first time all season the Ichabods did not come away with a steal, while also not blocking any shots on that end of the floor for the fifth time in the campaign.
