KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The No. 10-ranked Washburn Ichabods closed the first half on a 16 to 7 run en route to an 11-point lead at the break and led by as many as 20 in the second half improving to 2-0 on the season with a win over the No. 1-ranked Minnesota State Mavericks on Saturday in Municipal Auditorium. Washburn will open the home slate Tuesday with Ottawa in Lee Arena. The Ichabods picked up their first win over a No. 1-ranked opponent on March 6, 2021, when they topped Northwest Missouri in the MIAA Championship game.
 
After leading by nine at the break after shooting 49 percent in the first half on 16 of 33 from the field, the Ichabods held the Mavericks to 9 of 30 for a 30 percent clip including 2 of 13 from deep.
 
Washburn scored the first four points of the second half to go up 40-27. After trading three pointers, MSU trailed by 11 at 50-39, but an 8-0 spurt put the Ichabods up 19 and Washburn kept the Mavericks at arms link until the pulling with 11 with  3:31 remaining but Washburn outscored Minnesota state 8 to 2 down the stretch for the 17-point win.
 
Washburn outscored the Mavericks 49 to 41 in the second half shooting 42 percent from the field.  The Ichabods finished the game 31 of 67 overall hitting 47 percent of their shots going 7 of 19 from 3-point range and 16 of 24 from the free throw line. The Washburn also held a 48 to 36 advantage on the glass and outscored the Mavericks 48 to 32 in the paint and had 22 second-chance points after collecting 14 offensive rebounds.
 
After putting six Ichabods in double figures in yesterday's win over Sioux Falls, five reached double digits in today's win led by Andrew Orr's 19 points. He added eight rebounds. Also reaching double-figures scoring were Jacob Hanna with 17 and Brayden Shorter with 17. Jack Bachelor had 12 and Brady Christiansen had a double double  with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
 
Harrison Braudis had 19 to tie for game-high honors.