The Washburn Men’s Basketball Team coasted to a win over Central Missouri 80-70 as the Ichabods shut down the Mules’ big men with physical defense and rebounding. Washburn entered the game 12-9 coming off a three-game losing streak, two of which came at home. This game also marked the end of Washburn’s three game home stand. Washburn is also 9-8 after this win in the MIAA. Central Missouri entered the game 13-9 on the season and they drop to 7-10 in the MIAA.

The two teams seemed evenly matched at the start, tying at seven, then at 10 and 12 before Washburn took off on a six-point lead with 10 minutes left in the first quarter. The Mules then came back to take ta one-point lead only to end up tied at 27 and again at 29. The first half ended with a three-point lead by Washburn after Robert Christopher made two free throws and Javion Blake hit a three-pointer late in the half.

Washburn would hold the lead through the remainder of the game, building to as much as a 12-point lead before the game ended with Washburn ahead by 10.

Blake led the Ichabods with 21 points off of four three-point shots (4/9), seven total from the field (7/16) and three of four free throws. Cameron Wiggins also lit up the arc with a hot hand from the three-point line, shooting four for six and making two others from the paint, for a total of 16 points. Brady Skeens also had 13, shooting seven for seven from the charity stripe. Randall Smith and Christian Ulsaker also had 10 points each.

Three players for the Mules reached double digits. Jakob Lawrence had 18 points, shooting five of eight from the field and six of six from the free throw line. Spencer Reaves had 17 and D’Marnier Cunningham had 11 along with five assists.

Coach Bob Chipman was aware of the other team’s size and said defense and physicality were going to be a large part of the win as well as the rest of the season.

“That win was really big. They had great shooters, they’re huge and you notice we’re not very big, we’re pretty small, so that was gonna be a test,” said Chipman. “They’re one of the better teams, one of the top teams in the league right now, so it wasn’t gonna be easy. We just need to keep improving on this defense we talked about, the rebounding, and hitting shots helps so much. We hit some shots tonight, some of us for the first time in a while, so it was a good win.”

The Ichabods are back in action Sat., Feb. 13 against Lindenwood University in St. Charles Missouri. Washburn enters the game 13-9 coming off of the win over Central Missouri while Lindenwold is 15-8 and riding a two-game losing streak.