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University of Nebraska - Kearney Athletics

Austin Luger
Corbey R. Dorsey
77
Neb.-Kearney UNK 3-4,0-2 Mid-America Intercollegiate
79
Winner Washburn Wash 4-4,1-1 Mid-America Intercollegiate
Neb.-Kearney UNK
3-4,0-2 Mid-America Intercollegiate
77
Final
79
Washburn Wash
4-4,1-1 Mid-America Intercollegiate
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Neb.-Kearney UNK 34 43 77
Washburn Wash 32 47 79

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Ichabods Beat the Buzzer, 79-77

Kearney, Neb. – Sophomore guard Connor Deffebaugh hit a running layup with 2.4 seconds left to help Washburn edge Nebraska-Kearney, 79-77, Saturday evening in Topeka.

A banged-up bunch of Ichabods improve to 4-4 (1-1 MIAA) and to 2-2 at home while the Lopers slip to 3-4 (0-2 MIAA). Dating back to the end of last season, this is the fourth time in the last 10 games a UNK opponent has sunk a game-winner with less than 30 seconds remaining. That group includes Lincoln, Missouri Western, Wayne State and now Washburn.

"It's a tough one to take. I thought we played well enough to win it but hats off to them. Their kids stepped up and made a few more plays than ours did. That's how you end up losing one like this," said UNK head coach Kevin Lofton on the KRVN radio post-game show. "We played rock-solid for about 35 minutes. We had a stretch midway through the second half where we weren't as sharp as we needed to be. That made it hard on us and forced us to do something special to come back."

Both teams shot exactly 50% from the field, UNK making 31 of 62 shots and the 'Bods 30 of 60. Point guard David Simental (Pueblo West, Colo.) capped a Loper 6-0 run when he sunk a corner three off an inbounds pass from freshman Sean Evans (Parker, Colo.). The contested shot came with 28 seconds left and after the Lopers had missed on two previous trips to tie or get within a point.

That was the sixth and final tie with the 19th lead change coming after a WU timeout. Deffenbaugh took the inbounds pass, ran down the clock, got a screen on the left wing and drove into the lane where he banked in his team-best eighth bucket. A Loper desperation shot from 60 plus feet fell well short of the rim.

"We're ttying to get one percent better every day. I thought we played better than we did against Emporia," said Lofton. "Washburn is a little bit undermanned but they didn't make any excuses and found a way."

A very even game saw the 'Bods have an advantage in bench points, 27-7, and points in the paint, 44-34. Deffebaugh went for a team-best 19 on 8 of 10 shooting (2 of 3 threes) while also having five assists, three boards and two steals. Fellow starter Michael Keegan had 18 and eight with reserves Jeremy Harrell and Kevaughn Ellis combining for 21 points and six rebounds.

Simental scored a team-best 21 thanks to eight made shots (five threes). Next, Utah senior forward Darrian Nebeker had 20 points on 8 of 10 shooting in addition to seven rebounds and four assists. Finally, Alliance senior forward Austin Luger tallied 12 thanks to two triples with New Zealand freshman Sean Murphy being close to a double double (9 points & 8 rebounds) and limiting WU star Jalen Lewis to five points on 1 of 9 shooting.

"It's just the nature of this league. Good teams rise to the occasion especially when they are at home. You have to bring something special to win on the road and we just couldn't muster that up over these last three (road) games."

UNK heads to Fort Hays State next Saturday. The Tigers were 5-0 heading into a Saturday evening game at Emporia State (6-1). 

 
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