Wichita State 56, Southern Illinois 45
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[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.
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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.
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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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