The men’s basketball team continued their dominant performance in the MIAA conference with a major win against the Emporia State Hornets Saturday, Jan. 6. With this win the Ichabods continue to hold a closely contested lead in the MIAA conference standings.

{{tncms-inline content=”<p><span>“We came out and struggled a little the first half with getting defensive stops, but in the second half we came out and just attacked and just kept going.” -David Salach</span></p>” id=”f909fbea-a014-42e5-acda-f4544b05ed3b” style-type=”quote” title=”Salach Pullquote” type=”relcontent”}}

To start off the game the Ichabods and the Hornets were both firing from all cylinders with electric scoring. It was a close contest for both teams as Washburn freshman Tyler Geiman knocked down some crucial threes in the first period.

“I thought I played pretty well and came off hot at the start,” said Geiman. “We definitely started to get things going in the first half.”

{{tncms-inline content=”<p>The series of games against Emporia State are the most played series in the Ichabods history.</p>” id=”f3ad4491-398a-410a-82c9-d5f19ed1e9b7″ style-type=”question” title=”Did You Know?” type=”relcontent”}}

Even with the impressive offensive playmaking in the first half the Hornets would start pulling away with a couple plays in the paint. The Ichabods would answer back though as the Hornets held the biggest lead of the game at seven points with 7:14 left in the first half.

The Ichabods would start cutting into the lead and end the half with twelve points from junior Javion Blake and a 2-4 shooting performance behind the arc by Geiman. The halftime score would end up being 39-38 with a small Hornets lead heading into the locker rooms.

{{tncms-inline content=”<p>Javion Blake</p> <p>8-14 Field Goals</p> <p>5-9 Three Point Field Goals</p> <p>22 Points</p> <p>32 Minutes</p>” id=”24cbbc83-a016-458d-b342-11fc29aaedf7″ style-type=”bio” title=”Performance of the Night” type=”relcontent”}}

Washburn would continue to keep it close with the Hornets in the second half with a pretty even contest around the 16:22 mark of the second half. The Ichabods would take over in the second half around the 14:57 mark with a three pointer from senior Isaac Clark.

The Ichabods would not look back from that point, continuing to take control of the game with a great offensive front. Around the twelve minute mark of the second half the Ichabods would take the biggest lead of the game with a eight point lead at the 7:53 mark.

The Ichabods would not surrender the lead and end up beating the Hornets with a 83-69 final score to keep a undefeated conference record. One of the major contributors to the Ichabod victory was an impressive performance from junior David Salach.

“We came out and struggled a little the first half with getting defensive stops,” said Salach. “But in the second half we came out and just attacked and just kept going.”

{{tncms-inline content=”<p>Washburn v. Northeastern State University</p> <p>Lee Arena</p> <p>Thursday, January 11th</p> <p>7:30pm</p>” id=”5fd0383f-1add-4e4b-9cca-3f5f631d7aea” style-type=”fact” title=”Up Next…” type=”relcontent”}}

Up next for the Ichabods is another home conference game against Northeastern State University at Lee Arena. The game will take place Thursday, Jan. 11 as the Ichabods continue to defend their MIAA conference lead against the RiverHawks.