KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The No. 2-ranked Washburn Ichabods overcame a second-half challenge from MSU Moorhead and used a balanced offensive attack to win 96-88 on Friday afternoon in the Central Regional Challenge at Municipal Auditorium, as Ichabod head coach Brett Ballard notched his 200th win.
The Ichabods came out firing, using a 10-2 opening burst and later pushing the lead to 20-8 after a Marcus Glock 3-pointer and a Kade Cook trey with 14:41 left in the first half. Washburn's largest first-half advantage was 12 points before the Dragons gradually rallied behind their perimeter shooting.
MSU Moorhead chipped away at the lead, using a 17-8 stretch and eventually took its first lead of the game at 33-32 on a Kayden Nation 3-pointer with 4:30 remaining in the opening half. The teams exchanged the lead four times in the final minutes before Washburn carried a slim 47-46 advantage into halftime.
Tyson Ruud and Cook scored 10 points each in the first half for Washburn, while Glock and Brody Owen added nine points apiece. Washburn shot 51.4 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes, outscoring the Dragons 24-10 in the paint and holding a 10-5 edge in points off turnovers. MSU Moorhead was paced by Kayden Nation's eight first-half points and Isa El-Amin's 10 points as the Dragons connected on seven first-half 3-pointers.
The Dragons opened the second half by scoring 11 of the first 17 points and built their largest lead of the game at 61-55 following a Lincoln Rogers 3-pointer with 14:17 to play.
Washburn responded with one of its key stretches of the afternoon. Fast-break baskets from Tyler Salmon and Glock cut the deficit to two, and the Ichabods eventually drew even at 68-68 on a pair of Ruud free throws with 7:45 remaining.
The Ichabods took control for good with a 10-2 run fueled by baskets from Owen, Ruud and Jack Bachelor. Ruud's layup with 4:26 left pushed the margin to 78-72, and Washburn maintained at least a two-possession lead the rest of the way. The Ichabods sealed the victory by going 11-for-14 from the free-throw line over the final 7:45 and stretched the lead to as many as 11 points in the closing seconds before settling for the eight-point final margin.
Ruud led Washburn with 23 points, hitting 6 of 9 shots from the field and 11 of 15 free throws while adding eight rebounds and two steals. Owen finished with 16 points and six rebounds. Glock scored 15 points on 6-for-7 shooting while recording four assists and a block. Salmon added 15 points and seven rebounds and Cook finished with 12 points, five rebounds, five assists and a steal. Bachelor chipped in 13 points, eight assists and four steals.
Nation paced the Dragons with 21 points, connecting on 5 of 8 shots from beyond the arc and El-Amin had 14.
Washburn (2-1) shot 55 percent from the field, while outscoring the Dragons 46 to 22 in points in the paint adding 16 fastbreak points. The Ichabods also forced 13 Dragon turnovers, converting them into 19 points.
Washburn returns to action on Saturday against No. 9-ranked Minnesota State who topped Missouri S&T 68-52 on Friday.
