One week after defeating top-25 Washburn on the road, the Missouri Western men’s basketball team played the Ichabods at home. This one went into overtime, as the Icahbods pulled out a 56-52 victory.

In the first half, the Griffons’ defense played a huge role in taking a quick lead. They jumped out to a 19-6 lead in the first 13 minutes.

The Griffons separated themselves at the end of the half, as Alfreeman Flowers made a layup, followed by a steal by Adarius Fulton, passed to Flowers, who finished the play off with a lay-in resulting in a foul called on the Ichabods. The three-point play put Missouri Western ahead 27-18 at halftime.

Reed Mells scored seven points in the first half, tied with Flowers for the team-high. Dzenan Mrkaljevic recorded 11 rebounds in the half. Washburn shot 7-for-26 from the field, going 1-for-8 from the 3-point line.

The Ichabods came out in the second half scoring with efficiency. They scored the first 11 points to take a 29-27 lead. Both teams played an evenly matched game throughout the second period, with neither team taking more than a three-point lead. Washburn held a slim, 46-45 lead with less than 20 seconds to play.

Kalvin Balque was fouled with 2 seconds to play, and split the free throws to send the game into overtime.

In the extra period, Washburn scored the first four points to lead 50-46. Missouri Western drew within two with the ball, but a failed 3-point attempt gave Washburn the ball, and the Ichabods eventually won 56-52 in overtime.

— MWSU Sports Information —

The Missouri Western women’s basketball team did not make a field goal in the final 8:36 of the game falling 60-45 against the 6th ranked Washburn Lady Blues. The Griffons were held to their lowest point total of the year falling to 13-9 overall and 6-8 in MIAA play.

The Griffons played the high powered Lady Blues to a 9-8 lead with 14:56 to play in the first half. The Lady Blues Laura Kinderknecht hit three straight three’s giving Washburn a 17-9 lead with 11:22 to play.

The Griffons remained calm going on a 6-0 run cutting the lead to two after a KC Clouser layup with 8:48 to play in the first frame. The Lady Blues outscored the Griffosn by four the rest of the half taking a 29-23 halftime lead.

Washburn dominated the points in the paint 16-6 and had six more rebounds than the Griffons (25-19). MWSU shot 12 free throws but only made six in the half. Brittany Griswold was 2-for-3 from the field for seven points while Heather Howard had nine rebounds. The Griffons made just 8-of-25 field goals in the half.

The Lady Blues shot 36.4-percent (12-33) from the field and made 4-of-9 long range shots. Kinderknecht led the way with nine points while Sierra Moeller and Brittney Lynch had six boards.

The Griffons kept the game close up until the 8:36 mark of the second half. Lanicia Lawrence hit a jumper cutting the WU lead to 46-40 but the Griffons would be unable to score a field goal the rest of the way falling by 15.

Howard collected her 12th double-double of the season dumping 12 points and snaring 11 rebounds. the Griffons shot just 32.6-percent (15-46) from the field and 18.2-percent (2-11) from long range. They also struggled from the foul line making just 13-of-26 free throws.

The Lady Blues had three players in double figures with Kinderknecht leading the way with 16 points and five assists. Lavonda McCall had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds while Stormye Everett dumped in 10 points.

The Griffons return to action on Wednesday, February 20 with a road contest against rival Northwest Missouri State in Maryville, Mo. Game time is set for 5:30 pm in Bearcat Arena.

— MWSU Sports Information —

The Missouri Western baseball team pounded out 24 hits on day two against Arkansas Tech but were unable to pull out a victory falling 6-5 and 9-7 in the doubleheader. The Griffons fall to 1-3 on the season and will travel to Emporia, Kan. the weekend to take on the Emporia State Hornets in a MIAA three game series. The two teams will play two games on Saturday, February 16 with first pitch scheduled for 1:00 pm and will close out the series on Sunday, Febraury 17 with one nine inning contest starting at noon.

Game 1
Arkansas Tech 6, Missouri Western 5

Depite pounding out 13 hits in game one the Griffons comeback effort came up short falling 6-5 against the Wonder Boys. The Griffons left eight runners on base in the defeat.

Chris Allen had a rough start for the Griffons giving up six earned runs in two innints of work. He gave up five hits facing just 14 batters. He falls to 0-1 with the loss. Oliver Kadey was solid out of the bullpen for MWSU going six innings giving up just two hits and two walks.

Things looked good for the Griffons in the first two innings combining for three hits but were unable to get on the board stranding four runners. ATU however jumped all over the Griffons scoring one run in the first when Cesar Abreu led off getting hit by a pitch then stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by catcher Payton Scarbrough. Abreu scored on a sacrafice fly by Cole Fergus.

In the second inning the Wonder Boys used five hits to score five runs helping them to a 6-0 lead after two innings. From there the Griffons started their rally. In the fifth Nate Ramler singled in Bubba Dotson and Michael Schulze cutting the score to 6-2. INthe sixth MWSU scored two more runs when Shawn Egge blasted homer.

In the top of the ninth Egge reached on a throwing error by the third baseman and later scored on Michael Schulze single to center field cutting the Wonder Boy lead to 6-5 with no one out. A foul out, fly out and fielder choice ended the game for the Griffons.

Dotson and Scarbrough each had two hits while Schulze had three. Six other Griffons had a hit in the contest.

The Wonder boys had seven hits with seven different player getting one. Jake Bell picked up the victory going 5.2 innings giving up 11 hits and four earned runs. Boone Weiss got his second save of the season going one inning giving up one hit.

Game 2
Arkansas Tech 9, Missouri Western 7

Things looked good early for the Griffons as they took a 3-0 after an inning and a half. Shawn Egge, Schulze and Dotson all scored in the inning.

The Wonder Boys battle back scoring three in their half of the second on two hits to tie the score.

Once again MWSU went up by three using hits by Tyler Smith, Schulze and Kyle Simpson taking a 6-2 lead after their half of the third. The Griffons held that lead until the fourth when the Wonder Boys got to MWSU starting pitcher Jake Jones. Jones gave up four hits and three runs to go into the fifth tied at six.

The Wonder Boys used another three run inning in the fifth taking a 9-6 lead with just two innings to play. The Griffons left two on base in the sixth and two in the seventh falling for the third time in the series.

Schulze led the way for the Griffons going 3-for-3 with two runs scored while Dotson and Simpson had two apiece. Simpson had three RBI in the contest. Jake Jones gave up seven hits in four innings giving up six runs while Kyle Kelly got the loss going 2/3 of an inning giving up one earned run and one hit. He falls to 0-1 on the season.

Arkansa Tech improves to 6-4 with the victory as lead off batter Cesar Abreu had five RBI going 2-for-4. Dustin Thomas got the win going 1.2 innings improving to 2-0 on the season. Boone Weiss picked up his third save of the year and second of the day giving up two hits in one inning of play.

— MWSU Sports Information —