By WJBC Staff
ST. LOUIS – An early 10-2 run from Wichita State against Illinois State in Sunday’s Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championship game set the tone, and the Redbirds (27-6, 17-1 MVC) could never recover as the Shockers (30-4, 17-1 MVC) led from start to finish for a 71-51 win to dash ISU’s hopes at an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
Senior Paris Lee led the Redbirds with 18 points against the Shockers and earned all-tournament team honors for his performance for the Redbirds in three games over the weekend. Junior MiKyle McIntosh added 16 points and seven rebounds for the Redbirds, who struggled from the field shooting 29.3 percent (17-of-58).
Early 3-pointers from tournament most valuable player Conner Frankamp and Landry Shamet propelled the Shockers to the early lead three-plus minutes into the game. The Redbirds would answer with a 5-0 run, all of which were scored by Lee, to trim the WSU lead to four points at 13-9 at the 13:08 mark. A layup by Shaquille Morris five minutes later pushed the advantage back to eight points at 22-14, but once again, the Redbirds answered with a 3-pointer by Deontae Hawkins and a layup from McIntosh to make the lead just three points at 24-21 for the Shockers with five minutes left in the half.
Wichita State would go on a 9-1 run to widen the lead back to double digits at 11 points, before a 3-pointer from Lee with 25 seconds remaining in the half made the score 33-25 in favor of the Shockers at halftime. Coming out of the break, the Shockers scored the first five points to extend the lead to 13 points, before the Redbirds cut the lead back to nine at 40-31 four minutes in.
With the deficit at nine points at 46-37 with 11:19 left in the contest, the Shockers went on an 8-0 run to make the score 54-37 just over a minute later. That lead would eventually grow to as much as 23 points after a 3-pointer by Markis McDuffie with five minutes remaining in the game. Seven-straight points from McIntosh over the next minute of action made the score 69-51, before the Shockers hit a pair of free throws down the stretch to come away with the victory.
Illinois State will now wait a week to find out if its resume is good enough to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, when the bracket is announced Sunday, March 12, live on CBS.
