No 4. Washburn (30-4) earned a wire-to-wire victory over No. 5 Lenoir-Rhyne (29-6) to advance to Thursday’s Final 4. The Ichabods earned a big 90-78 win over the Bears in the Elite 8. This is the first time Washburn has reached this point since 2001.
The big win for the program also marked head coach Brett Ballard’s 200th career win. This is also the second time in Washburn history it has eclipsed 30 wins in a season.
“It’s mixed. I’m really excited, really happy for this team,” Ballard said. “I knew this team we were playing was really good, no disrespect at all. There is an expectation that I thought this team could come here and win some games.”
Lenoir-Rhyne pushed Washburn at times during the game. They went for multiple offensive runs where the Ichabods could not buy a basket. Washburn’s lead was cut to just two points with a few minutes left in the first half.
Behind Brayden Shorter’s team-high 18 points, the Ichabods were able to punch their ticket to the Final 4, where they will face No. 1 Nova Southeastern (34-1) at 8:30 p.m. Thursday. The Sharks have reached the national title game in back-to-back seasons.
“It’s special. There’s only four teams left out of 300 plus,” Shorter said.
Two freshmen were key in Tuesday’s win. Senior Andrew Orr was called for two fouls in the opening three minutes of the game. Dillon Claussen, the backup forward, was called into action.
He delivered throughout the entirety of the contest. Claussen played a career-high 22 minutes and scored 17 points on 7-for-7 shooting. He also grabbed six rebounds and had two assists.
“Coach is always preaching to everyone to stay ready. You just never know when it’s going to be your game,” Claussen said. “
When Claussen needed a break, Kade Cook was called upon, too. Cook played three minutes but had a nice floater inside the lane for his lone bucket. There wasn’t a letdown when Cook entered the game; the Ichabods went +4 on the scoreboard when he was on the court.
“Kade is going to be really good, I think you saw a flash of that,” Ballard said. “Dillon has been very consistent throughout this season. You can see the confidence that he is getting, and he’s been really, really good for the last month or so. It’s nice to have a backup to come off the bench and play at about the same level that Andrew gave us.”
Claussen showcased skills with his back to the basket while also being key in pick-and-roll situations. The Omaha, Neb., native was setting strong screens at the top of the key while Topeka’s Jack Bachelor rolled hard and delivered key passes to his forward.
Bachelor finished with a game-high nine assists along with 12 points. Nine players reached the court for Washburn, with all of them scoring in the game. Jacob Hanna, Brady Christiansen, Orr, Bachelor, Shorter and Claussen all reached double figures.
“I thought he did a nice job of controlling things in the ball screens, and he made some nice drop passes to our bigs to allow them to get some layups,” Ballard said of Bachelor.
While the present is the most important thing to the Ichabods, two freshmen making key plays in an Elite 8 game should only excite Washburn fans for the future.
Liam Keating covers high school sports for The Topeka Capital-Journal. Send stats or information to him at Lkeating@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: How Washburn's two freshmen helped the Ichabods advance to the Final 4
