TAHLEQUAH, Okla. -- The NSU Events Center continued to be a house of horrors for the Washburn Ichabods as the No. 1-ranked squad fell 88-84 losing their fourth in a row to the RiverHawks in Tahlequah. The Ichabods will be back in action hosting Central Oklahoma on Thursday in Lee Arena.
For the second-straight game the Ichabods led at the break by four leading Northeastern State 40-36 despite the RiverHawks shooting 60 percent from the field in the opening period hitting 15 of 25 shots while the Ichabods were 15 of 35 for 43 percent.
In the second half, the Ichabods (22-2, 13-2 MIAA) led by as many as eight points with 14:12 to go on a layup by
Jack Bachelor who scored 10 in the second half. A 17 to 6 run by the RiverHawks that finished with back-to-back 3-pointers put NSU up 62-60 with 10:22 to go.
The RiverHawks (14-10, 8-7 MIAA) pushed their lead to five at 82-77 with 3:00 to go, but a
Brayden Shorter 3-pointer cut the lead to 82-80 17 seconds later. NSU hit a pair of free throws then after two free throws by Bachelor and
Jacob Hanna pulled the Ichabods within one at 85-84 with 33 seconds left, NSU scored a basket with 26 seconds to go and a free throw with 18 to go to wrap up the game.
Shorter scored 16 of his team-high 21 points in the second half hitting five 3-pointers leading five Ichabods in double figures.
Andrew Orr had 15 with eight boards before fouling out. Bachelor finished with 14 and Hanna had 12 points with nine assists and five rebounds.
Dillon Claussen had 10 points off the bench
Six players reach double digits for the RiverHawks led by the MIAA's leading scorer Trey Phipps, who had 20 points.
After shooting 60 percent in the first half, the RiverHawks shot a blistering 70 percent in the second half going 16 of 22 from 2-point range (72 percent) finishing at 65 percent for the game hitting 34 of 52 shots overall. Washburn shot 47 percent hitting 29 of 62 shots overall. The Ichabods were 18 of 23 from the free throw line compared to 15 of 19 for the RiverHawks.
Washburn outrebounded the RiverHawks 30 to 24 recording 16 offensive rebounds scoring 16 second chance points. NSU outscored the Ichabods 54 to 36 in the paint.
