ALEX ELLER
ellerag@lopers.unk.edu
UNK men’s basketball started fast and finished strong in a 79-51 victory against Washburn Jan. 16 at the Health and Sports Center.
“Getting off to a good start always feels good,” said basketball coach Kevin Lofton. “I felt it showed that our guys were doing the little things, we executed really well offensively and defensively we got out and defended pretty well.”
The Ichabods only lead of the game, came at the 19:47 mark in the first half when Jonny Clausing’s layup made it 2-0.
Back to back layups for the Lopers by senior AJ Jackson (Bellevue) and Kyle Juhl (Harlan, IA) gave them their first lead of the game at 4-2.
Juhl added two three-pointers to give UNK a 10-5 lead going into the first media timeout.
The Lopers continued to pour it on with two more three’s by Chase Winchester (DeSoto, TX) and Morgan Soucie (Osawatomie, KS) to extend the lead to eight at 16-8 with 13:51 in the first.
With score 16-9, Soucie and Jake Walker (Centerville, UT) teamed up to help UNK go on an 8-0 run and extend the point margin to 15.
The Lopers got up by as much as 17 points in the first half, before Washburn started to mount a comeback before the end of the half.
Jumpers by Jace Williams and Tyler Nelson along with a layup by Clausing cut the deficit to eleven points.
With under four minutes in the first half, Drew Maschoff inserted his presence in the game, scoring five points to help the Ichabods get within seven at 39-32 going into the break.
Washburn was able to stay within ten points of UNK at 56-47, up until the 10:56 mark. A three-pointer in the corner by RJ Pair (The Colony, TX) helped spark another big run for the Lopers to end the game.
UNK outscored the Ichabods 24 to four in the final ten minutes of the game to secure the victory.
With the win, the Lopers move to 11-5. Halfway through the season, UNK already has more wins than they had a season ago.
Coach Lofton contributes the team’s success to the fact that he is seeing the team play for each other.
“It’s just good to see some guys play with some confidence,” Lofton said. “The biggest thing I am proud of and impressed with is guys are just playing for each other. It shows up defensively as they get each other’s back and then offensively you consistently see an open guy
making extra passes and then finding a guy even more open to make the shot. So, if we continue to do that, we have a chance to be pretty good down the stretch.”
The Lopers were very balanced on offense in the game. Walker had 15 points along with seniors AJ Jackson and Morgan Soucie. Juhl led all scorers in the game with 16 points.
UNK is at home this Saturday against Emporia State (9-6). The Lopers lost against the Hornets back on Dec.5.
Tip time is set for 4 p.m.
