Ace Hunt
GoSycamores.com
ST. LOUIS -- Fueled by a quick start from Wichita State, the Shockers earned a 72-48 victory over Indiana State in the quarterfinals of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at the Scottrade Center.
The Sycamores dropped to 18-14 on the year and saw their four-game winning streak at Arch Madness come to an end while Wichita State -- ranked No. 14 nationally and the top seed in the tournament -- improved to 27-4 and improved the No. 1 seed's record at the conference tournament to 36-0 all-time in quarterfinal action. The Shockers move on to the semifinals and will play the winner of the game later today between No. 4 Wichita State and No. 5 Northern Iowa.
Indiana State was led in scoring by nine points each from Dwayne Lathan and RJ Mahurin. The Sycamores were one of just three teams all year to outrebound the Shockers during the regular season, but Wichita State ended up with a 43-29 edge on the boards in the contest.
The Wichita State defense held the Sycamores to just 14-of-52 shooting (26.9 percent) while the Shockers converted 50 percent of their attempts in the contest.
The Shockers came out of the gates strong by scoring each of the game's first seven points before Steve McWhorter answered with a 3-pointer with 17:19 to score for their first field goal of the game to trim the Wichita State lead down to 7-3.
Following the McWhorter trey, the Shockers continued with a strong start at they scored the game's next 13 points as they surged ahead 20-3 based on making nine of their inital 13 shots from the field while the Sycamores misfired on eight in a row.
Jake Odum broke the Sycamores' scoreless slump at the 10:13 mark with a driving lay-up which cut the Shocker lead down to 20-5. Carl Richard hit a pair of free throws with 9:11 remaining to cut the Wichita State lead down to 22-7, before the Shockers with the next 10 points to stretch their cushion out to 25 points.
The Shockers 10-0 run ended with 4:11 on the clock as RJ Mahurin was fouled on a 3-point attempt and he converted on all three free throws to make it 32-10. With Wichita State leading 38-13, Jordan Printy got things going with a 3-pointer as the clocked ticked under a minute to go in the half to cut the Wichita State lead down to 38-16. Dwayne Lathan drilled a 3-pointer at the buzzer following a Joe Ragland driving lay-up as Wichita State owned a 40-19 advantage at the break.
Including the Lathan 3-pointer before the half, the Sycamores completed a 12-0 run as Indiana State scored each of the first nine points following intermission to cut the Wichita State lead down to 40-28 on a fast break lay-up from Lathan with just under 16 minutes remaining.
Wichita State ran its advantage back out to 53-33 before Gant drove in the paint to hit a tough basket as the clock went under 12 minutes remaining, but Ragland had the answer for the Shockers to make it 55-35 with 11 to go. The Sycamores got a wide-open 3-pointer from Printy with 7:30 remaining to cut the Shocker lead down to 57-41.
Wichita State was paced in the game by Joe Ragland and Toure Murry who scored 14 points each.
The Sycamores will await word late on Selection Sunday (March 11) when they will be informed of their postseason tournament selection.
