Wichita State spurts past Redbirds 56-47    

[JAN. 9, 2006]  NORMAL -- Illinois State senior guard Dana Ford matched his career high with 16 points, added seven rebounds and four steals, but a second-half shooting streak powered Wichita State to a 56-47 win over the Redbirds in a Missouri Valley Conference basketball game Sunday at Redbird Arena.

Illinois State, 6-7, 1-4 in the Valley, fell victim to a 21-14 turnover deficit and made just seven of 14 free throws. Greg Dilligard added 14 points and four blocked shots for ISU. Paul Miller led WSU with 12 and Kyle Wilson had 11.

Wichita State 12-4, 3-2, has won the last eight in a row, including four straight in Redbird Arena. In a game that featured tight defense on both ends of the court, the Shockers made nine of their first 11 field goals in the second half to build a double-digit lead. The Redbirds rallied later while holding WSU scoreless for four minutes, but the 'Birds missed six straight free throws during that period and couldn't catch the Shockers.

Defense dominated the first half. Miller's bank shot for Wichita State at the 18:36 mark put up the only points in the first 4:30. The 'Birds' first points were Mike Vandello's two free throws to get ISU on the board at 15:37. The freshman forward added a driving layup 47 seconds later to give ISU its first lead. Neither team led by more than two points in the first 12 minutes. The Shockers got back-to-back buckets from Miller and Ryan Martin to take a 14-11 lead with 7:30 remaining.

WSU stretched the lead to four when Wilson drained his only field goal of the half, a 3-pointer from the left wing with 3:37 left. Dana Ford responded with a 3 of his own 27 seconds later for ISU, but Sean Ogirri hit a trey and Martin scored on a lob pass to give the Shockers their biggest first-half lead at 24-18 heading into the final minute.

Nedu Onyeuku cut that lead in half with a 3-pointer from the top of the key. Matt Braeuer's driving shot in the final seconds gave the Shockers a 26-21 halftime lead. Nine of the Shockers' points came off Redbird turnovers, as WSU made just nine of 26 field goals to Illinois State's eight of 20.

Dana Ford scored ISU's first seven points in the second half. Ford's steal got him a return pass from Onyeuku for a layup to start the second-half scoring. After Ogirri hit a 3 for the Shockers, Ford scored on a layup. PJ Couisnard hit a jumper for the Shockers, and then Ford hit a 3 to pull ISU within 31-28 with 16:30 left in the game. Wilson split a pair of free throws and Greg Dilligard hit two for ISU to slice the WSU edge to 32-30 with 15:55 remaining.

Braeuer and Dilligard exchanged baskets before the Shockers went on a 9-0 run from 13:01 to 10:54, which featured two layups by Martin. Wichita State made seven of its first nine shots and led 43-32. WSU retained that lead at 49-38 when the Redbird defense kicked in. The Shockers went 0-8 over the next four minutes as ISU got two baskets from Dana Ford, one from Khalif Ford and a free throw from Onyeuku to cut the lead to 49-45.

But when Miller drained a long 3-pointer from the left side with 3:45 remaining, WSU's lead was back to seven, and the Shockers secured a victory.

The Redbirds will play Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. at Missouri State.

[Illinois State University news release from Todd Kober, assistant athletics director, media relations]

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