KEARNEY, Neb. – The No. 3-ranked Washburn Ichabods opened MIAA play with a bang recording the largest margin of victory in the 50-game series with Nebraska-Kearney in an 87-52 win on Thursday. The Ichabods will continue MIAA play on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Fort Hays State.
 
The Ichabods trailed 3-0 after the Lopers (1-6, 0-1 MIAA) hit a long jumper taking the early lead and after a 3-pointer by Jack Bachelor tying the score, the Lopers took a 5-3 lead, but a 17-1 run over the next 6:07 of the contest taking a 20-6 lead as Washburn was 7 of 10 during the stretch while the Ichabod defense held the Lopers to 0-7 shooting from the field.
 
After the Ichabods used an 8-0 run after a pair of Loper buckets, the Lopers returned serve with  an 8-0 run of their own, cutting Washburn's lead to 28-10 with 7:17 to play in the half. Washburn used another double-digit run, outscoring the Lopers 10-0 going up 20 before taking a 44-26 lead into the break.
 
Bachelor hit back-to-back 3-pointers pushing Washburn's lead to 23. The Lopers connected on two more jumpers before the Ichabods ripped off another big run of 17-3 going up by 33 with 8:57 left.
 
After the final media timeout, Bachelor connected on another 3-pointer and Jake Schadegg hit two of his own 28 seconds apart, giving Washburn its 11th 3-pointer on the evening as the Ichabods rolled to the 35-point win. The 35-point win topped the previous series victory margin of 31 in an 89-58 win over the Lopers on Jan. 16, 2019 in Topeka.
 
Washburn (8-0, 1-0 MIAA) snapped a three-game MIAA-opener losing streak with the win over the Lopers, recording its first win in its league lid-lifter since 2020.
 
Bachelor's 19 points was a game high as he finished 5 of 8 from 3-point range. Brayden Shorter had 16 hitting four 3-pointers while Jacob Hanna had 15 points with seven boards and three assists. Schadegg had 10 points off the bench and Dillon Claussen just missed a double double with nine points and eight rebounds. Andrew Orr scored eight points leaving himself needing one point to become the 28th Ichabod to reach 1,000 career points.
 
The Lopers were led by Chase Thompson, who had 16 points.
 
Washburn finished the game 31 of 58 from the field for a 53 percent clip while the Ichabods held the Lopers to 17 of 52 shooting overall at 33 percent. Washburn was 11 of 27 from deep and hit 14 of 18 from the charity stripe.
 
Washburn dominated the glass outrebounding the Lopers 41 to 24 turning 10 offensive boards into 17 points while outscoring the Lopers 40 to 18 in the pain and 19 to 2 in fastbreak points.