By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
MARYVILLE - The No. 5 Washburn men's basketball team (8-0) made history, posting an 84-82 overtime win over No. 1 Northwest Missouri State (5-1) at Bearcat Arena Thursday night.
The Washburn victory snapped Northwest's 28-game winning streak, giving the Bearcats their first loss since Dec. 7, 2019.
It was Washburn's first win against Northwest in the last 12 meeting between the two teams.
Northwest faced a four-point deficit with 7.4 seconds left in regulation, but miraculously found a way to force OT.
Diego Bernard drove the length of the floor and drew a foul as he sank a layup with 2.4 seconds left, cutting the lead to two, 73-71.
Bernard intentionally missed the free throw, but it didn't hit the rim, so possession was awarded to Washburn.
Northwest then fouled Geiman before the Ichabods could get the ball in play to send him to the free throw line.
Geiman made the first shot, but missed the second. Bernard scooped up the rebound and threw an outlet pass to Trevor Hudgins. Hudgins took the ball just past half court and heaved a three-pointer, but was fouled by Washburn's Drew Maschoff with 0.1 left.
Yes, 0.1 left.
Hudgins calmly
sank all three free throws to force overtime at 74-74.
The Bearcats took an 82-77 lead in OT following a
three-pointer by Bernard and two more free throws from Hudgins.
However, the Ichabods scored on an old-fashioned three-point play with just over two minutes remaining in OT, and Washburn's Rathen Carter scored
two of his 12 points with 1:40 to go to, knotting the game at 82-82.
Northwest then committed a shot clock violation, giving the ball back to Washburn. The Ichabods eventually got a chance to shoot free throws. Geiman sank both to give
the Ichabods an 84-82 lead.
Hudgins had a three-point look for Northwest at the buzzer that missed, giving Washburn the victory.
Washburn's Tyler Geiman led all scorers with 26 points and Northwest's Wes Dreamer was the top Bearcat scorer with 24 points.
Northwest will stay home Saturday to host Emporia State at 2 p.m.