Tyler Geiman scored 26 points in Washburn's upset win over Northwest Missouri State.
For the first time in 12 tries, Washburn men's basketball has defeated Northwest Missouri State. The No. 5 Ichabods ended the top-ranked Bearcats' 28-game winning streak with a 84-82 overtime stunner in Maryville, Missouri. Here are three things you need to know from Washburn's win:
NO. 5 WASHBURN TAKES DOWN NO. 1 NORTHWEST MISSOURI IN OVERTIME, 84-82!!! #GoBods pic.twitter.com/6b2RQSEO2T
— Washburn MBB (@IchabodMBB) January 8, 2021
Tyler Geiman isn't just All-MIAA good, he's MIAA Player of the Year good
Yeah, you heard me. The senior point guard is leading Washburn in every major offensive category ... again. And he just led the Ichabods to a win at NWMSU. Geiman carried the scoring load with a game-high 26 points in addition to a team-high seven rebounds and five assists in 41 (!) minutes. He was already averaging 17.3 points, 6.7 boards and 6.6 assists coming into this game and provided one of the biggest performances of his career.
Washburn got hot when it needed to ... on both ends
Against a team like Northwest Missouri, timing is everything. For the Bearcats, it was a tough night offensively in getting a combined 23 points from Trevor Hudgins and Ryan Hawkins, who was also responsible for five of NWMSU's 12 missed free throws. For Washburn, it was 10 of 11 made field goals to close out regulation and 68 percent shooting for the second half. And guess what, they still needed every last one of those makes to hang around after Hudgins sent the game to overtime at the line with a tenth of a second to play.
Defensively, that translated to a physical style of play. NMMSU hit its first two shots of the extra period, both from deep. From there, the Bearcats' final points were a pair of free throws before being held scoreless over the final 2:38.
The MIAA regular season title could up for grabs
Northwest Missouri has won the MIAA regular season crown in seven consecutive seasons. It's going to take more than one loss to dethrone the Bearcats. However, Washburn played spoiler tonight and looks the part of conference contender more than one-third of the way through its regular season. The Ichabods have shown that they can win in a variety of ways and on the contributions of a number of different players. Against NWMSU it was primarily Tyler Geiman, though Johnny Clausing chipped in 21 points and seven boards while Rathen Carter added 12 and 4. A while back, Jalen Lewis hit a buzzer-beater against Fort Hays State on opening night and the team rallied back from a double-digit hole against Northeastern State a few days ago.
Make no mistake, the Ichabods are not a team you're going to want to miss out on the rest of this season.
