Wichita State 56, Southern Illinois 45

[March 07, 2015]  No. 8 Wichita State 56, Southern Illinois 45: Fred VanVleet led a balanced scoring effort with 13 points and added three steals as the Shockers pulled away from the Salukis in the quarterfinals of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament in St. Louis.

Tekele Cotton contributed 12 points and Ron Baker had 10 for top-seeded Wichita State (28-3), which has won 39 of its last 40 conference contests and faces Illinois State in Saturday's semifinals. Freshmen Shaquille Morris and Zach Brown each finished with eight points as the Shockers overcame a 35-26 rebounding disadvantage by forcing 18 turnovers.

Jalen Pendleton tallied 12 points and six boards to pace ninth-seeded Southern Illinois (12-21), which has dropped five straight and 11 of its last 13 in this series. Anthony Beane chipped in 10 points as the Salukis shot 34 percent from the field.

Beane scored eight of his team’s first 10 points as Southern Illinois built a 15-11 advantage on a layup by Pendleton while Wichita State opened 4-of-15 from the field. The Shockers turned up their full-court pressure to force turnovers on four of the next five possessions following a pair of free throws by Cotton, who scored all nine of his first-half points to begin a 17-3 surge.

Wichita State’s edge alternated between six and 10 points to open the second half until the Shockers held Southern Illinois to one field goal over a 10-plus minute stretch. Cotton’s reverse layup with just over 12 minutes left answered the Salukis’ final push while Brown capped the 15-4 run with an alley-oop dunk and a layup as the lead ballooned to 54-37 with 3:17 remaining.

 

GAME NOTEBOOK: Wichita State advanced to the MVC semifinals for the sixth straight season. … Cotton’s run-starting layup in the second half enabled him to become the 44th Shocker to score 1,000 career points. VanVleet is 28 shy of accomplishing the feat. … Beane, who was the MVC’s second-leading scorer at 16.3 points entering Friday, went a combined 12-of-38 and averaged 11.3 points in three games against Wichita State this season

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