TOPEKA, Kan. – The No. 3-ranked Washburn Ichabods used a dominant first-half run and balanced scoring to roll past Northeastern State 78-54 Saturday afternoon at Lee Arena, improving to 24-1 overall and 14-1 in league play winning their 27th home game in a row.

After falling behind 3-0 in the opening seconds, Washburn flipped the script with an 11-0 burst with a Dillon Claussen steal-and-dunk to highlight the surge. Washburn shot a blistering 63 percent in the opening half and scored 28 points in the paint over the first 20 minutes, taking a 41-27 lead into the break while forcing 16 Northeastern State turnovers.

The Ichabods pushed the margin to 20 early in the second half behind back-to-back baskets from Brady Christiansen and Smith building a lead of as many as 29 late in the frame as the Ichabods "cooled to 48 percent" shooting in the second half.

Claussen led the Ichabods with 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting while adding six rebounds and three blocks. Smith stuffed the stat sheet with 11 points, five assists and four steals. Christiansen also scored 11 points on 5-of-7 and Jack Bachelor added 10 points, knocking down all four of his free throws. Jeremiah Jones anchored the glass with five rebounds to go with six points and five assists and two steals while Tyson Ruud scored 10 of Washburn's 26 bench points adding six boards.

Washburn finished the game shooting 55.6 percent (30 of 54) from the floor scoring 48 points in the paint while turning 24 Northeastern State turnovers into 12 points. The Ichabods also held a 38-28 rebounding edge and led for more than 39 minutes.

The Ichabods will go out on their final road trip of the regular season with games at Central Oklahoma on Feb. 19 and Rogers State on Feb. 21 before wrapping up the last week of the regular season hosting Pittsburg State on Feb. 25 and then will end the regular season hosting Missouri Southern at 1 p.m. in the MIAA Game of the Week facing the Lions on 38 The Spot in Kansas City.

NOTES:
• The Ichabods' 27-game homecourt winning streak is the second-longest in program history, trailing only the 28-game streak from Nov. 19, 1993 to Feb. 8, 1995.
• The Ichabods held the RiverHawks 38 points under their season scoring average of 82.9 ppg.
• The Ichabods hold a three-game lead in the MIAA standings with four conference games to go.