Icabods prevail, but Lopers take Emporia
Ryan Boyd
Antelope Staff
The pride of a good defense begins with how aggressively they play against their opponent. Fans indicated the officials on Feb. 1 were not feeling defense-friendly for UNK’s Thursday night matchup against the Washburn Ichabods.
Both teams struggled with efficiency handling of the basketball as both competitors reached the final buzzer with 15 turnovers.
Physical play has been going in favor of UNK as of late. In fact, the Loper men took an early lead in the first half thanks to a good fast break offense, but Washburn kept a lead for most of the game with their accurate field goal percentage and finished the game 87-73.
The Ichabods could not miss on offense, making 53.3 percent of their attempts while UNK was down to 41.1 percent. The referees were the real highlight of the game on this Thursday night shootout, however.
Playing aggressive defense couldn’t be consistent for either squad as UNK had 22 personal fouls, and Washburn was close behind with 20 fouls of their own.
Four UNK players had their minutes cut short throughout both halves with four fouls limiting play. Each struggled to avoid the one more foul to put them out for the rest of the night.
Ty Danielson was able to make the most out of all players with what time he had on the court against the Ichabods. Danielson, a senior general studies major from York, dropped in 25 points with a highly efficient shooting performance of 88 percent. Danielson also outshined all from the free throw line, making all nine of his attempts.
Coming back from injury and ready to prove himself against the Ichabods, Yashua Trent played for 18 minutes but also suffered from his foul issues. Trent, a senior physical education major from Chicago, Illinois, contributed when he could with six points, two assists and a steal.
Trent is still coming off the bench behind Lane Rohrich, a senior exercise science/physical therapy major from Pierce. Rohrich had a rough night with his four fouls but knocked down his one and only three point attempt. He would go on to finish with 13 points.
Washburn was ready to play against UNK as they came in with a tough man-to-man defense that affected the play of UNK’s consistent staple on the offense, Trey Lansman. Lansman, a senior health and P.E. K-12 major from Harlan, Iowa, struggled to get his own game going against the Ichabod defense. Lansman shot 33 percent from the floor and put in 16 points. He also had a game high four turnovers to match his four fouls.
UNK was able to right the ship on Feb. 3 with a strong team performance all around. The Loper men were able to improve their record to 10-12 on the back of their 70-57 victory against Emporia State University.
Lansman was able to perform better this night as he scored a team high 15 for the Lopers. Complementing Lansman were seven of his teammates dropping in between six to nine points.
Emporia State worked the ball early and didn’t trail in the first half, but UNK used strong team play with their typical aggressive defense to dominate the second half.
After avenging their loss in December to the Hornets, UNK will now go back on the road to face the University of Central Oklahoma Bronchos on Feb. 8. The Lopers are looking to use their next road trip to end their tough times away from home as they sit with a tough 2-10 record on the road.
