WICHITA, Kan. – The Wichita State Shockers scored an 82-57 win over the University of Northern Iowa men’s basketball team on Wednesday in Koch Arena.
The Panthers fell to 16-10 overall and 6-8 in Missouri Valley Conference play. Wichita State improved to 21-4 and 12-2 in MVC play. The win moved Wichita State into sole possession of first place in the MVC standings.
Wichita State led from start to finish in the contest. The Shockers had a 17-9 lead to open the game as they hit their first five 3-pointers of the game. WSU eventually pushed the lead to 43-22 with 3:28 left in the half.
“They had a better game plan than I did for our guys in that first 10-12 minutes of the game,” UNI head coach Ben Jacobson said. “They got off to a great start. They can surround the 3-point line with four shooters and that makes it difficult. Garrett Stutz made some good reads and good reads early to find those shooters.”
UNI senior guard Johnny Moran said to give the Shockers credit for their early start.
“They came out and stuck those early shots,” Moran said. “They had it going. Give them credit because they made some tough shots.”
But UNI responded with a 13-0 run to close the half, that was capped by a 3-pointer at the buzzer by junior Jake Koch. WSU led 43-35 at the intermission.
UNI continued to chip away at the WSU lead in the second half and pulled to within 47-44 on a bucket by freshman Seth Tuttle with 17:47 left in the game. However, the Shockers’ Joe Ragland knocked down a 3-pointer that started a 17-3 WSU run.
WSU senior guard Toure’ Murry was key in the run as he drained three straight jump shots to turn the momentum for the Shockers.
“That sequence that Murry put together hurt us,” Jacobson said. “He hit those three jump shots in a row.”
UNI was led in scoring by Tuttle with 15 points. Junior guard Marc Sonnen chipped in with 11 points, including three 3-pointers.
UNI will return home to take on the Illinois State Redbirds in the McLeod Center at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
NOTES: UNI gave up a season-high 82 points … WSU swept the regular season series vs. UNI for only the second time in 20 tries … UNI made 9-of-13 free throws compared to only 4-of-4 for the Shockers.
