Ichabods can't get over the hump at Southwest Baptist

February 6, 2007

Box Score | Season Stats

BOLIVAR, Mo. - The Washburn Ichabods cut the Southwest Baptist lead to four or less on five different occasions with under five minutes left in the game, but could not get any closer in a 79-72 loss to the Bearcats on the road. With the loss, Washburn falls to 7-15 and 3-10 in the MIAA. Washburn will return home to take on Truman on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. in Lee Arena.

After entering the halftime break trailing 41-32, Washburn had the lead trimmed down to three at 53-5 with 13:05 remaining on a traditional three-point play by Frank Phifer. SBU pushed the lead back back to seven at 61-54, but again the Ichabods cut the Bearcat lead back to two at 70-68 with 2:17 remaining as Brady Sisk scored on a jumper in the paint. After a foul was called on Sisk, SBU's Jason Jemison hit a pair of free throws and after a Washburn miss, Jared Young hit a 3-pointer stretching the lead back to seen at 75-68 for SBU. The Ichabods hit a pair of free throws and a layup, but SBU retained their lead hitting all four free throw attempts in the final 18 seconds hanging on for the seven-point win.

The Ichabods fell behind quickly in the first half as SBU opened on a 9-2 run and then led 16-7 at 13:39. Washburn then went on an 11-2 run capped by a dunk from Phifer to pull within one, 21-20 at 8:12. Sergio Negrin had as assist on the dunk as he played in his first game since missing four to injury.

SBU quickly regrouped and led 35-24 until Michael Williams hit a 3-pointer to bring WU within eight. In the final seconds it looked like WU would be going into the locker room down by just six when Andrew Meile made a 3 but SBU's Luke Folkerts made a 3 from just beyond half court at the buzzer to give his team a 41-32 halftime lead.

Phifer led the Ichabods with 21 points on 8 of 15 shooting from the field. Andrew Meile scored 14 htting 3 of 5 3-point attempts. The Ichabods finished the game shooting 50 percent from the field hitting 25 of 50 attempts. Washburn also fell to 6-1 when attempting more free throws than their opponent as they hit 15 of 22 free throws compared to 13 of 16 for the Bearcats.