Game #12
#7 Washburn Ichabods (10-2, 10-2 MIAA) at Newman Jets (2-9, 2-9 MIAA)
Thursday, Jan. 28 • 7:30 P.M. Wichita, Kan. • Fugate Gymnasium
Series Record: WU leads series 25-7 Last Meeting: Dec. 5^th, 2020 NU 61 WU 100 in Topeka, Kan.
Internet Audio: Newmanjets.com/listen Internet Video: themiaanetwork.com/newman
Up Next: vs Emporia State • Sat. Jan. 30 • 3:30 P.M. • Wichita, Kan.

LAST TIME OUT
Northwest Missouri State (9-1, 9-1)would start the game off on fire as they were able to open up a 14 point lead halfway through the opening period, 28-14. The Jets would respond with a 19-7 run led by Ian Lee with 6 points and Branden Bunn with 5 points to cut the Bearcat lead to just 2 points heading into the intermission, 35-33.  Newman would tie the game up with their first possession of the second half when Joel Boyce would make a layup. A Bunn three point basket would give the Jets their first lead 38-37 a little over a minute later. Newman would then go on a 12-8 run that stretched their lead to 5, 50-45 five and a half minutes into the final period. Bunn would lead that run scoring 5 points as Jacob Birnbaum would add 3 points of his own. NWMSU would cut into the lead, but Newman would stretch it back to five points with a layup by Bunn.  The Bearcats would tie the score up at 54 all just 40 second later and eventually take a 59-56 lead. DeAndre Johnson would answer with a made free throw followed by a dunk to tie the game back up at 59 with 6:13 left in the contest. The Bearcats would take the lead back on the ensuing possession and never look back as they would close out the game on a 22-11 run to take down the Jets, 81-70.

THE COACHES
RJ Allen is in his fourth season as the head coach and tenth on the staff for the Jets. Allen is 2-9, 2-9 in the MIAA in his fourth season at Newman. Last season under coach Allen, the Jets went 9-19 and 3-16 in the MIAA.  Allen has led Newman to a 34-23 overall record and a 21-11 Heartland Conference record over his first two seasons. Allen won Heartland Conference Coach of the Year honors in the 2017-18 season, he was the first coach to win the award in their first season. Prior to Newman Allen spent 5 season as an assistant coach at Concordia University in St. Paul, Minn.

Brett Ballard enters his fourth season as the Washburn Men's basketball coach for the 2020-21 season. Ballard has guided Washburn to NCAA postseason tournament appearances in two of his first three seasons on the bench compiling a 62-31 mark overall going 29-9 in MIAA play. In three seasons, the Ichabods have finished third and second and fifth overall in the MIAA standings reaching the MIAA Tournament Championship game in two of the three seasons. Ballard's 46 wins is the most recorded by an Ichabod coach in program history after their first two seasons on the Washburn bench by four wins.

ABOUT THE JETS
Newman is 2-9 on the season, 2-9 in the MIAA.  Newman is led in scoring by Redshirt Junior guard Joel Boyce at 13.3 points per game.  Joel Boyce leads the Jets in rebounding at 6.7 rebounds per game. 

ABOUT THE ICHABODS
Washburn is 10-2 on the season, 10-2 in the MIAA. Washburn is led in scoring by Tyler Geiman at 19.8 points per game. Geiman also leads the Ichabods in rebounding at 6.6 rebounds per game.

SERIES HISTORY
This will be the 33^nd all-time meeting between these schools with the Ichabods leading the series 25-7 over Newman including the Ichabods defeating the Jets in four of the last five meetings.

LAST TIME VS WASHBURN
Newman would fall behind early and struggle to get back into the game as they would not get the score closer than six points a feat that they accomplished just short of halfway through the first half. After the intermission, Washburn would continue to control every aspect of the game until the end in a 100-61 victory of the Jets.

UP NEXT
The Jets will host Emporia State on Saturday, Jan. 30^th with tip-off at 3:30 PM.

LISTEN, WATCH & FOLLOW LIVE
Video streams for all of Newman's regular season contests are available on a pay per view basis on the MIAA Network. Events are available live and is immediately archived for on-demand viewing at the conclusion of the event at www.themiaanetwork.com/newman and on the MIAA Network apps for Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV and Roku. Listen along to all of the Newman Jets games on The Jets Audio Network with Blake Cripps on the call at newmanjets.com/listen. You can find all things Newman in the Newman Jets Athletics app available in both the App Store and on Google Play.