It was a good thing forward Rashad Adams brought his mouthpiece for Saturday night’s game against Missouri Southern. Adams endured the physical post play of the Missouri Southern Lions and led the Ichabods to a thrilling 82-75 double overtime victory.

In a game where the lead changed 17 times, Adams poured in 22 points and snagged eight rebounds. While forward Dylan Channel scored 18 points and made clutch free throws down the stretch. Second leading scorer for the season for the Lions, Dan Jones, led Missouri Southern with 8-12 shooting and scored 20 points.

“Man, it was physical. The refs weren’t exactly calling it both ways, but we got a big, big win. I got some confidence early tonight and was able to knock down some shots. I had been working on my shooting in the gym and it finally paid off,” said Adams.

The first half saw Southern jump out to a 10-point lead halfway through, before the Bods were able to whittle the deficit down to three going into the locker room. The Ichabod defense made some critical steals by Channel, guard Kyle Fisher and forward Paul Byers, coupled with holding sixth leading scorer in the MIAA, Quentin Edwards, to just five points, helped prevent the Lions from running away early.

“We were able to get some steals by anticipating passes and jumping in their passing lanes. [Quentin] wasn’t feeling really well. You could see he wasn’t moving all that well, and he was just way off all night,” said Byers.

The second half and subsequent overtimes helped display the progress the Ichabods have been making over the season. Down two points with 17 seconds left in the game, forward Brady Sisk made a leaping save off an Andrew Meile missed 3-pointer and called a timeout to save the possession.

After the timeout, the Bods went back to Adams who got fouled hard with seven seconds remaining in the game. He missed the first free throw, and intentionally missed the second, but Channel somehow managed to tip the rebound in to send the game into overtime at 59 apiece. The first overtime saw Lions leading scorer for the night, Jones, foul out just 35 seconds into the period. Senior Kris Milburn grabbed a crucial offensive rebound and scored on the put-back to give the Bods a one-point lead with 90 seconds remaining. However, a layup by Edwards put the Ichabods down one with 30 seconds to go.

After a missed Channel 3-pointer and a Southern turnover, forward Sisk was fouled with 14 seconds remaining in the period. He made one of two free throws and Washburn was heading to double overtime.

The second overtime was dominated by the Ichabods, as Adams scored four points in the first two minutes before fouling out. Channel hit a baseline runner with two minutes remaining and then drew an offensive charge on the other end to basically seal up the game for the Ichabods.

The rough play of the Lions created 33 team fouls, four of their players to foul out and 46 free throw attempts for the Ichabods.

With the win the Ichabods are out of the MIAA cellar and are looking to improve their seeding for the conference tournament and prevent the first losing season for Coach Bob Chipman. This win also puts Chipman in a tie for second place for wins as a MIAA coach. The Bods play at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 8 on the road at Pittsburg State.

Their next and last home game of the season is at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15 against arch-rival Emporia State.