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SPRINGFIELD – No. 25 Wichita State (27-4, 17-1 MVC) clinched a share of the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season championship here Saturday with an 86-67 win over Missouri State on senior day for the Bears.
WSU’s inside-out combination of Shaquille Morris and Landry Shamet combined for 20 and 23 points, respectively, with Shamet snagging a team-high 8 rebounds and dropping in five 3-pointers.
Missouri State (16-15, 7-11) was led by senior Dequon Miller with 19 points, while junior teammate Alize Johnson posted his 15th double-double of the campaign, scoring 18 points and snagging a game-high 12 rebounds.
MSU trailed by 10 late in the first half before a 3-point play by senior Jordan Martin cut its deficit to 37-30 at the 2:25 mark. The Bears then played for two possessions in the final minute of the opening half, getting a bucket by Jarred Dixon down the stretch, but could not convert on their final possession of the half to go into the break trailing 39-32.
MSU also came up empty on the opening possession of the second half, but registered three straight defensive stops while Johnson found the right gear. He scored off the glass and then converted two free throws to make it a 39-36 game with 18:23 to go.
The Shockers, who won their 12th straight game, retaliated with a key 3-point play by Rashard Kelly on their next trip, and then Shamet scored five unanswered points for the visitors to stretch their lead back to 11.
MSU counter-punched through another triple by Shamet near the 14-minute mark with a trey by Miller – his third of the game – and a huge long-range bomb from Kreklow to make it a 50-46 game.
The Bears got a stop on their next defensive trip, but came up empty on two close-range shots by Dixon and Johnson with a chance to make it a one-possession game. Wichita State then went on a 10-2 run to lead 60-48 at the midway point of the final period and the Bears never got the deficit under 10 the rest of the way.
The visitors’ lead hovered around 12-14 the remainder of the half before Conner Frankamp scored two unanswered threes on back-to-back trips to give the Shockers their biggest lead of the day at 19.
Missouri State scored twice in the final 90 seconds – by seniors Miller and Martin – but Morris and Markis McDuffie countered for WSU to keep the final margin at 19.
MSU suffered just its fourth senior-day loss in 35 years as a Division I program.
The Bears out-rebounded WSU for the second time this season, gaining a 33-31 lead on the glass with just 9 turnovers. Missouri State closed out the regular-season by matching or out-rebounding 16 of their 18 Valley foes in the carom count.
For the game, MSU was 26-for-58 (.448) from the field but convert just 4-of-16 (.250) from three on a day when the long ball was critical. MSU finished 11-of-17 (.647) at the line with Miller and Dixon accounting for 3 assists apiece.
WSU was 33-of-61 (.541) overall and 11-of-26 (.423) from long range with 8 triples in the second half alone. The Shockers converted 9-of-11 (.818) at the stripe with 5 turnovers, 20 assists and 7 steals.
In the first half, the Bears matched the Shockers on the glass, 15 rebounds apiece, and turned the ball over just five times to stay within seven at the intermission. Johnson and Miller teamed up to score nine points during a key stretch late in the half after the Shockers had pulled ahead by 10.
The Bears will now head to St. Louis for the 2017 MVC Tournament, March 2-5, at Scottrade Center.Missouri State is likely to be the No. 6 seed for Arch Madness which would pit the Bears against the No. 3 seed on Friday evening at 8:35 p.m. Final tournament seedings and pairings will be finalized and distributed by the Valley office early Sunday.
