WEATHERFORD, OKLA. – The East Central University men's basketball team dropped a 64-84 decision to Washburn in the 2016-17 season opener, as part of the Midwest Region Classic hosted by Southwestern Oklahoma State.
The Tigers (0-1) were paced by junior
Brett Cannon, who tallied 10 points, two rebounds and three assists. Senior
Brett Cannon added nine points and four assists, while senior
Ishmael Donzo led the team with seven rebounds and added six points and a steal.
The start of the game was a little slow for ECU, as they fell behind 2-14 in the first four minutes. The Tigers cut the deficit to seven around the mid-way point for the stanza, but the Ichabods (1-0) pushed back out to a double-digit lead (15-33) over the next three minutes. The teams traded points the rest of the stanza and ECU went into the intermission trailing 25-44.
Washburn kept the lead around 20 points for most of the second half. That is until the Tigers made a push, with 5:30 left to play. ECU went on an 11-0 run over the next three minutes to cut the deficit to 11 (62-73). The Ichabods countered with a 6-0 run over the next minute to push the advantage back out to 17 (62-79) and kept pushing the tempo for the 64-84 victory.
The Tigers had a slow shooting start, shooting 28 percent (7-25) from the field in the first half. ECU rebounded in the second half, hitting 11-of-28 shots (39.3%), but Washburn shot 57.1 percent (32-56) for the game.
The Tigers will wrap up the classic, Saturday, Nov. 12 at 12:30 p.m. when they face NCAA DII defending national champion Augustana. The Vikings come into the game ranked No. 18 in the NBAC Preseason Poll.
