March 5, 2010

Washburn Knocks Off No. 1 Seed Central Missouri

By David Boyce

Central Missouri learned that the No. 1 seed is the last place you want to be in the MIAA Men's Basketball Tournament.

The Mules became the third straight team to lose in the quarterfinals to the eighth seed.

Washburn stunned Central Missouri, beating the No. 4-ranked Mules 79-60 Friday afternoon at Municipal Auditorium.

"We had something to prove," Washburn junior Logan Stutz, who finished with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field. "We had a long time to prepare. Once we were in we were in 100 percent."

Central Missouri joins company with Southwest Baptist, which lost the last two years as the No. 1 seed.

The Ichabods led from start to finish and won in a thoroughly convincing fashion.

"We came into this game confident and with a lot to prove," said junior De'Andre Washington, who finished with 19 points and nine rebounds. "We had nothing to lose. When you play like that and you have confidence and shots fall you have a different result."

The only consolation for Central Missouri is it has another game to redeem itself. The Mules, 25-3, will play in the South Central Regional, but the loss probably cost them a chance to play host to the regional tournament.

"We obviously didn't play well and Washburn played great," Central Missouri coach Kim Anderson said. "I thought they set the tone in the game in the first five minutes. They played very aggressively. Their defense was very good and we didn't make shots, and they had something to do with it."

All Washburn, 15-13, earned is another game. Washburn has to win the MIAA Tournament to reach the South Central Regional. Although the No. 8 seed has reached the championship game of the MIAA Tournament the last two years, the eighth seed hasn't won the title.

But Washburn definitely played a championship-quality game against the Mules.

The Ichabods started very well and then played with poise in the last eight minutes when Central Missouri made one desperate run to trim a 55-37 deficit to 55-47 with 5:15 left.

It began with Washburn junior Maurice Colter at the free throw line. He calmly knocked down two free throws and became the go-to guy at the line in the last three minutes.

At one point, Colter made six straight free throws to help Washburn build its lead back to 71-55 with two minutes left.

Washburn simply lived up to coach Bob Chipman's words after the Ichabods' last regular-season game, which was a loss at Emporia State. Washburn needed Missouri Southern to win at Northwest Missouri just to get in the MIAA Tournament.

Chipman said he hoped his team got in because he really believed they would play well, and the Ichabods did.

"Maybe we limped into this, but our guys showed that we do have a good basketball team and we are worthy of being here," Chipman said.

Washington was hitting jumpers all game long. Stutz played strong inside. Colter and William McNeill controlled the tempo from the guard position.

On defense, the Ichabods completely took away Central Missouri's inside threat, Sanijay Watts. It left the Mules to jacking up three-pointers, and most of them clanked off the iron.

Central Missouri was 6-for-26 behind the three-point arc.

"We just wanted to take him out of the game and let some other guys beat us," Washington said. "He (Watts) is a good player. We figured if we could take him out of the middle and just contain their guards we would have a good chance of winning."

Washburn played a near-perfect 15 minutes to start the game and built a 29-11 lead. The Ichabods were knocking down three-pointers and scoring inside seemingly at will.

Washington hit a three-pointer and backed it up with a 15-footer to give Washburn a 5-0 lead.

The Ichabods scored nine of the first 11 points. Central Missouri had no rhythm on offense and loose balls were falling into Ichabods' hands.

Central Missouri slowly found its form in the final five minutes and closed to 34-26. Washburn scored the last points of the half and went into to the locker room with a surprising 36-26 lead.

"It was an off day, but like coach said, they had something to do with it," Central Missouri senior Alex Moosmann said. "They pressured us and we had to take some tough shots sometimes. You got to give them a lot of credit for playing us so tough."

To reach David Boyce, contributing writer for the MIAA, e-mail dboyce@themiaa.com.