Story Links Box score (pdf) EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The No. 5-ranked Washburn Ichabods historic season came to an end to the top-ranked Nova Southeastern Sharks in the NCAA National semifinals in a 94-68 win on Thursday in Evansville, Ind. Washburn, who won the MIAA regular season title and the NCAA Central Regional in front of […]
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The No. 5-ranked Washburn Ichabods historic season came to an end to the top-ranked Nova Southeastern Sharks in the NCAA National semifinals in a 94-68 win on Thursday in Evansville, Ind. Washburn, who won the MIAA regular season title and the NCAA Central Regional in front of three nights of a packed house with a 30-4 record.Jacob Hanna led the Ichabods with 15 points and Orr tallied 13 on 6 of 9 shooting with a team-high eight rebounds. Jack Bachelor finished with 11.For only the third time this season, the Ichabods were topped on the glass at 39-32. Washburn outscored the Sharks 40 to 36 in the paint and 12 to 2 in fast break points.
Notes:
The 2024-25 Ichabods became the second team in program history to reach the 30-win mark joining the 1986-87 NAIA National Championship team who were 35-4.
• Ichabod head coach Brett Ballard won his 200th career game as a coach against the Bears in the NCAA National Quarterfinals.
• The Ichabods played in their third NCAA National Semifinals game going 1-2 overall.
• The 34 starts through the NCAA National Quarterfinals by Bachelor, Orr, Keegan and Hanna are eighth on the single-season chart … the Ichabod single season record is 39.
• The 279 3-pointers made this season is third on the Ichabod single-season chart … the school record is 293 shared by the 2020-21 and 2018-19 teams.
• The 782 3-point attempts is the most on the Ichabod single season chart, passing the 2021-22 who attempted 778.
• The Ichabods led the NCAA D2 ranks in cumulative attendance this season with 35,633 and also led the nation in average attendance at 2,229 per game.
• Washburn has a 16-game home court winning streak which is tied for the fifth-longest in the D2 ranks.Ryker Cisarik led the Sharks with 28 points and the NCAA D2 Player of the Year MJ Iraldi scored 25.Washburn finished at 46 percent from the field going 26 of 57 from the field. The Sharks finished 34 of 69 for a 49 percent clip hitting 12 of 26 3-point attempts.In the second half, the Ichabods improved to 50 percent from the field hitting 15 of 30 shots but Washburn could not cut into the Shark lead as the Ichabods were outscored 41-39 in the half.The Ichabods scored the first bucket of the game on a layup by Andrew Orr, but a hot-shooting Shark squad, who finished the opening half connecting on 19 of 33 shots for a 57 percent clip including 7 of 13 from deep as Nova Southeastern (35-1) took a 53-29 lead into the break.
