MARYVILLE, Mo. - The Northwest Missouri State University men's basketball team claimed a 68-65 victory in a tussle Wednesday night with the Washburn University Ichabods at Bearcat Arena.

Northwest improved its season mark to 7-3 overall and 4-1 in MIAA play. The Bearcats are the first MIAA school to reach four conference victories this season. Washburn fell to 5-4 overall and 1-2 in league action. Northwest has won five consecutive matchups with Washburn and has earned triumphs in 19 of the last 22 meetings between the two programs.

Wednesday's affair featured 48 fouls and 55 free throws combined by the two squads. Washburn was whistled for 25 fouls, while Northwest committed 23 infractions. Washburn went 19-of-25 at the line. Northwest sank 23-of-30 at the charity stripe.

Washburn blitzed Northwest in the first seven minutes of the contest as the Ichabods built a 16-5 lead. The Ichabods made six of their first eight field goal attempts, including 4-of-5 from three-point range.
 
Northwest used a 14-4 spurt to trim the Washburn lead to one at 20-19 with 8:10 left in the opening half. Northwest took the lead at 26-24 on a pair of Isaiah Jackson free throws with 5:48 on the clock. After Washburn knotted the contest at 26-26, Daniel Abreu sank a three-pointer from the right wing to put the 'Cats on top, 29-26 with 5:17 to play.
 
Northwest closed the half on a 16-4 run to give the Bearcats a 42-30 lead at the break. Blake Danitschek came off the bench to bury a pair of triples in the final four minutes to spark the Bearcat push.
 
The Ichabods were whistled for 17 first-half fouls and the Bearcats took advantage by draining 15-of-21 at the free throw stripe. Both squads made 11 first-half field goals. The Ichabods misfired on their final four three-point attempts in the opening 20 minutes.

A Dreamer triple with 14:38 left in the second half gave Northwest an 11-point bulge at 51-40. However, Northwest would go more than six minutes without another made field goal until Dreamer dropped in another three-pointer with 8:17 to play. Prior to Dreamer's three, Washburn had trimmed the Bearcat lead to three at 52-49.

Isaiah Jackson scored on a conventional three-point play and Trey Moala tallied a bucket to give the Bearcats an eight-point lead at 60-52 with 6:42 to play. But the Ichabods refused to yield and answered with a 9-2 spurt to slice the Bearcat lead to one at 62-61 with 4:00 on the clock. 

Jackson scored a pair of buckets down the stretch to give the Bearcats a pair of three-point leads at 64-61 and 66-63. With 1:06 to play, Washburn's Brady Christiansen knocked in two free throws to bring the Ichabods within one again at 66-65. Abreu missed a driving layup hard off the glass with :37 left and Washburn claimed the rebound with a chance to take the lead.

Washburn's Jack Bachelor picked up his own miss for an offensive rebound and was fouled by Dreamer on a blocked shot attempt. Bacheler bricked both free throws only to have Christiansen corral the rebound and give the Ichabods another chance at the lead. Sam Ungashick missed a shot in the lane, got his own rebound and kicked out to Bachelor for a three that clanged off the iron. Ungashick got the offensive rebound and missed another putback attempt that was brought in by Dreamer. Dreamer drew a foul and calmly sank a pair of free throws to take the lead back to three at 68-65 with :05 remaining. Ungashick misfired on a pull-up three-pointer before the buzzer and the Bearcats claimed the three-point win.

Dreamer secured his 19th career 20-point scoring game with a 21-point performance. Dreamer knocked in four three-pointers and was 5-of-7 at the line as he grabbed six rebounds.

Jackson came off the bench to score a season-high 13 points, with eight of those coming in the second half. Jackson was 3-of-5 from the field and 7-of-10 at the free throw line. Jackson added four rebounds with two on the offensive end of the floor to go along with a team-best three assists.

Abreu was the third Bearcat in double-figure scoring with 11 points.

Moala captured a career-high nine rebounds and scored six points in 25 minutes off the bench.

Danitschek buried a pair of three-pointers in two attempts and scored eight points. Danitschek has made his last five three-point attempts.

Washburn was led in scoring by Ungashick's game-high 24 points. Ungashick knocked in five three-pointers for the Ichabods.

Northwest will return to action at home Saturday at 3:30 p.m. against the Emporia State University Hornets.

NOTES: Northwest holds a 67-56 lead in the all-time series with Washburn ... head coach Ben McCollum is 23-10 all-time vs. Washburn ... since the start of the 2011-12 season, Northwest has compiled a home mark of 167-14, including a tally of 112-10 in MIAA play ... since Jan. 14, 2015, Northwest has compiled a home record of 122-7. In that same stretch, Northwest is 87-4 in home MIAA contests ... the Bearcats have compiled a record of 231-19 over the last eight years ... Northwest came into the contest ranked No. 12 in the nation in free throws made per game at 19.1 ... Northwest made 23 free throws vs. Washburn tonight ... Dreamer corralled six rebounds to give him 700 career rebounds and become only the seventh Bearcat to reach 700 career rebounds ... the 11-point comeback is the largest deficit Northwest has overcome this season to secure a victory ... the previous largest comeback was six against UMSL on Nov. 22 in St. Louis, Mo.