WICHITA, Kan. - More than 10,000 basketball fans at Levitt Arena learned Thursday night that Indiana State isn't just a one-man team.

Oh Larry Bird got his 31 points, a half-point shy of his nation-leading average, as No. 5-ranked Indiana State stretched its perfect record to 15-0 with a 94-84 victory over the Cheese Johnson-less Wichita State Shockers.

But it was in the final seven minutes of the first half, when Bird was riding the bench with three fouls, that the Missouri Valley Conference-leading Sycamores (5-0) took command of the game.

Indiana State led only 33-31 when Ray Shirley, who led WSU with 27 points, drew the third personal on the 6-foot-9 Bird with 7:12 showing.
 
Bird took his seat next to Coach Bill Hodges, and both watched approvingly as Carl Nicks (19 points), substitute Leroy Stanley (14) and the rest of the Sycamores widened that gap to 54-41 by halftime. Staley came off the bench to tally 12 of his points in the first half.

The Shockers, who shot better than 50 percent from the field (53.6) in a losing cause for the second straight game, whittled the margin down to nine points several times, but couldn't get closer.
 
The reason, as might be expected, is that the Sycamores shoot free throws better than WSU does. Indiana State shot from the stripe 36 times, hitting 28. WSU received only 17 tries and hit 10.

The Shockers fell to 3-3 in the Valley and 8-8 overall.

"When Larry came out of the game, Wichita State was hitting 25-footers," Hodges said after the contest which attracted a season-high crowd of 10,584. " Our guys placed with a little inspiration while he was an the bench, and they (Shockers) quit hitting those 25-footers."

The Sycamore surge sans Bird didn't surprise WSU coach Gene Smithson that much, either.

"Indiana state is a much better team than last year," said Smithson whose Illinois State squad split a pair of games with ISU last season. "They added better personnel than they lost. They've got better guards, better balance, plus the experience of the guys who are back."
 
Smithson Went to his bench quickly and extensively as Steve Kalocinski picked up three fouls in the first 10 minutes of his scoreless first half, and Richard Williams, after scoring 10 points, picked up his third personal late in the first half.

Bob Trogele, after a career-high 28 points Tuesday at Drake, hit only two of seven shots and saw only 19 minutes of playing time. Williams played only 22 minutes, Kalocinski 24, Ronnie Ryer 29 and Shirley 32 among the five starters.

Shirley, starting in place of leading scorer and rebounder Johnson who injured an ankle at Drake, provided the early firepower with 17 first-half point as WSU opened leads of 10-3 and 22-15. But he picked up his third and fourth fouls three minutes into the second half, and also logged several minutes of bench time.

Williams was defensing Bird on a box-and-one alignment for WSU in the early going, but Smithson later went to a man-for-man with seldom-used Mike Denny drawing the assignment on Bird much of the time.

"We wanted to keep a fresh guy on Bird," Smithson said. "He'll wear any one guy - even three guys - out during the course of a game. I thought Denny did a good job applying defensive pressure, and also gave us some offense (eight points) while he was out there (22 minutes). John Kobar (12 points, 21 minutes) also came off the bench and did a tremendous job."

"I think the added pressure got to Trogele," Smithson said. "He just didn't have it going tonight, and Kobar did. But I'm not worried about Bob. He'll be back.

"Williams wasn't moving well enough," the coach said in explaining why he had three reserves, sometimes four, on the floor most of the second half. "We had to get more movement and we had to go after the ball. That's why we went with a quicker lineup."

Smithson hopes Johnson will be back in the lineup in time for the Shockers' next game, a week from Saturday against Tulsa in Levitt Arena.