Washburn Athletics
Gene Cassell, Assistant Athletic Director for Communications
HAYS – Jalen Lewis’ 3-pointer at the buzzer sent the Washburn Ichabods to an 80-78 win over Fort Hays State as Washburn opened the 2020-21 season with a bang in its conference opener.
The Tigers hit a 3-pointer with nine seconds to play in the game by Jared Vitztum putting FHSU up 78-77. But after a timeout by the Ichabods, a deflection put the ball out of bounds with 2 seconds to play setting up the game-winner by Lewis, who finished with 15 points in the game. The Ichabods were 3 of 3 from deep the final 2:19 of the game going 3 of 4 from the field overall.
The lchabods led at the break 38-34 after building a lead of 14 at 27-13 with 8:04 to play in the opening half. The Tigers then used a 12-2 run cutting the lead to four at 29-25 with 4:23 remaining in the half. The Ichabods pushed the lead back to as many as eight prior to the Tigers hitting back-to-back 3’s trimming the lead back to four. Washburn hit 3 of its first 5 3-point attempts before going 4 of 10 to end the opening frame.
The Ichabods (1-0) shot 54 percent in the second half going 7 of 14 from the 3-point line finished 14 of 29 overall from deep. The Tigers (0-1) were 11 of 20 from deep and 10 of 11 from the free throw line going 13 of 14 overall. The Ichabods were 10 of 19 from the free throw line.
Washburn was led by Tyler Geiman and Drew Maschoff who each had 20 points. Geiman finished with nine assists and five rebounds while Maschoff had a team-high six rebounds and three steals.
Vitztum led the Tigers with 16 points.
The Ichabods will be back in action on Saturday at Nebraska-Kearney with a 5 p.m. tip.