Similarly to the women’s basketball game played prior, the men’s team started off slow against Rogers State University in Lee Arena Dec. 9, 2023.
The tip was won by Washburn who came up empty on the first possession of the game, which was followed by back-to-back turnovers on the next two possessions, allowing Rogers State to take a 2-0 lead in the first minute of the game.
Washburn’s sophomore guard duo of Jarmell Johnson and Sam Ungashick were the first to help put the Ichabods on the board when Ungashick dished out an assist to Johnson who nailed a jump shot in the paint to tie up the score.
Ungashick found himself in early foul trouble in the first half causing his teammates to step up and fill the point guard and lead scorer position.
“Sam has been good, and he’s a very good player. He is a big focal point for other teams, so I was a little concerned when [the fouls] happened,” said Brett Ballard, head coach. “Jake Schadegg [junior guard] did a great job of coming in and holding things down. We played better with Schadegg and Jack Bachelor [freshman guard] in [the game]. They both did a good job handling that point guard role which allowed us to finish the first half pretty strong.”
The lead was traded back and forth between the teams through the first part of the half until Washburn started to pick up their offensive pace when Michael Keegan, junior guard, and Brayden Shorter, freshman guard, knocked down threes on two consecutive possessions to kickstart the team’s success with their perimeter shots on the night.
A third shot was put up and made by Johnson with an assist from Andrew Orr, junior forward, giving the Ichabods a 20-18 lead. This was followed by Orr handing an assist to Brady Christiansen, sophomore forward, for an easy layup, and then Christiansen returning the favor to Orr who hit a short jump shot in the middle of the lane.
Rodney Battle, senior guard, posed as Rogers State’s biggest offensive threat, which kept them in the game and Washburn’s defense on its toes. Battle was the Hillcats leading scorer and was responsible for 20 of their 71 points. However, his performance wasn’t enough to slow down the Ichabods’ scoring streak.
In the final few minutes of the half, Bachelor put up seven points for the Ichabods, which contributed to making the score at the halftime buzzer 41-36.
“We hopped on them in the first half, and they still got off to a good start, but we responded well in the second half,” Bachelor said. “The ball was moving around a lot and I just happened to get the open shots tonight. My teammates are great at getting me the ball and we just played a great game today as a team.”
Coming back for redemption to start the second half of the game, Ungashick opened the half with a three-pointer off of a fastbreak and was followed by a Johnson three-point basket giving Washburn a comfortable 10-point lead they held onto for a majority of the second half.
Washburn started to pull ahead with eight minutes left in the game with points coming from Orr, Ungashick, Bachelor, Schadegg and also an alley-oop from Keegan to his fellow Ichabod, Emmanuel Byrd, sophomore forward, as the final seconds ticked off the clock.
When the final buzzer sounded, the Ichabods had found themselves with a 93-71 victory and a homecourt record of 4-0 on the season.
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Edited by Jeremy Ford and Jayme Thompson
