EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The No. 5 Washburn Ichabods moved into the NCAA National Semifinals with a 90-78 win over Lenoir-Rhyne sending the Ichabods to the final four of the national tournament on Thursday night at 8:30 pm CST against No. 1-ranked Nova Southeastern.

The Ichabods led from start to finish thanks to a hot start coming out of the gate pulling in front of the No. 10-ranked Bears 13-4 lead after Brayden Shorter scored nine points in the early going.

Washburn pushed its lead to 13 after a traditional 3-point play from Jacob Hanna putting the Ichabods up 27-14 with 11:48 remaining in the first, but the Bears (29-6) chipped away trimming their deficit to five less than 60 seconds later before a pair of Hanna free throws, a 3-pointer from Shorter and a Hanna bucket in the paint pushed the margin back to 10.

The lead stayed in double digits until the Bears used a 9-0 run pulling within three again at 40-37. Back-to-back layups from Dillon Claussen and Michael Keegan stretched the lead back to seven before LRU hit three free throws with 37 seconds left, but Jack Bachelor's jumper sent the Ichabods to the locker room with a 46-40 lead.

In the second half, the Ichabods went up by 20 at 64-45 with 14:42 to play and to as many as 21 before the Bears came back again.

The Bears eventually cut the lead to five with 3:14 to go, but two jumpers in a row from Dillon Claussen put the margin at 11 and the Bears did not get closer than nine the rest of the way.

The Ichabods had six players in double figures led by Shorter's 18 points. Claussen came off the bench to score a season-high-tying 17 points (recorded against Harding in the NCAA Regional Quarterfinals) on 7 of 7 shooting. Both Hanna and Bachelor finished with 12 points as Bachelor dished out nine assists. Hanna also added six boards and five assists. Brady Christiansen finished with 12 points and four boards and Andrew Orr had 10 points and thre boards. Keegan tallied four points, six rebounds, two assists and a steal.

Junior Hodnett led the Bears with 19 points.

Washburn finished 53 percent from the field going 31 of 58 and 10 of 21 from deep also hitting 18 of 21 free throws. The Bears shot 41 percent connecting on 17 of 20 free throws and 9 of 24 from 3-point range.

Washburn held a 36 to 29 advantage on the glass and outscored the Bears 40 to 34 in the paint and 24 to 5 in fast break points.
 
Notes:
• The Ichabods became the second team in program history to reach the 30-win mark joining the 1986-87 NAIA National Championship team who were 35-4.
• Ichabod head coach Brett Ballard won his 200^th career game as a coach against the Bears.
• With his five 3-pointers, Brayden Shorter became the Ichabods' all-time single season leader passing Maurice Lamar who hit 113 in the 1991-92 season.
• The Ichabods will be playing in their third NCAA National Semifinals game going 1-1 overall.
• The 1993-94 team fell to CSU-Bakersfield 67-64 in the semfinals in Springfield, Mass.
• The 2000-01 team topped Western Washington 96-90 to reach the national championship game.
• The Ichabods have never faced Nova Southeastern.
• Jack Bachelor's 187 assists this season moved into third on the Ichabod single season chart.
• The 33 starts through the NCAA National Quarterfinals by Bachelor, Orr, Keegan and Hanna are eighth on the single-season chart … the Ichabod single season record is 39.
• The 275 3-pointers made this season is third on the Ichabod single-season chart … the school record is 293 shared by the 2020-21 and 2018-19 teams.
• The 763 3-point attempts is second on the Ichabod single season chart, trailing the 2021-22 who attempted 778.